Barbossa's Return
by Jillvalentine44
Summary: When Barbossa returns from the dead, it is up to Jack to stop him from taking over the Caribbean! SUMMARIES ARE HARD! READ THE FIC! 5 in a series!
1. Chapter 1: Old Memories New

WARNING: This is #5 in a series! The order is this: The Bounty of Captain Bartholomeu Santara, The Gems of Roslynn, The Capture of Thomas Black, The Murder of Port Royal. READ THOSE FIRST!

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Pirates of the Caribbean or Disney. If you would like to further this pursuit, check my disclaimers in my other fics. Mleah. :-P DONT SUE ME!

I'm back! Again. Okay, well, I got this done pretty quickly after I posted 4. Yay for that. I hope everyone enjoys this one! I worked hard on it!

Thanks to: Johnny'shumiliatedgrape and iliveinmiddleearth for always being faithful reviewers! I LOVE YOU!

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Pirates of the Caribbean:

Barbossa's Return

Chapter 1: Old Memories New

Jack and Celeste Sparrow were living happily on the Black Pearl, docked in the Port Royal harbor. The man who replaced Norrington as commodore, was very good friends with them and they always spoke when they saw each other in town. Jack and Celeste's lives were wonderful and couldn't be better.

It had been six months since Celeste Sparrow had written to her father about visiting her, her husband Captain Jack Sparrow, and her children Christopher (now three years old) and Jocelyn (now six months old) in Port Royal. They hadn't gone on any adventures since Christopher was born, but that was going to change soon… Celeste had gotten a letter back from her father saying that he would visit on a certain date.

Celeste had told her father not to bring her stepmother, but Jack wasn't so confident that he wouldn't. Celeste wasn't sure he'd leave her in Ruby Falls, but was hoping he would.

This wasn't the only arrival that Port Royal was going to get. Little did they all know, a man was going to arrive there who hadn't been there in years. The man was a dreaded one, and he sought revenge. No one expected him, and no one would believe it. One thing was sure, though. When he arrived, all of Port Royal would shiver from the coldness of his malice. It would be felt throughout the town the moment the man's foot touched its ground. The Sparrows had been through a lot. They had gone up against evil before, but never like this. This was a man who would achieve revenge any way he could get it, but not before causing all those involved to suffer greatly. After what he'd been through, he'd become completely heartless and sadistic. The Sparrows had never faced anything like this before, and they certainly weren't prepared for what was to come…

The night before Celeste's father arrived, Jack had gone to Christopher's room as it started raining to tell him a bedtime story and tuck him in while Celeste took care of Jocelyn and got into bed. After Jack was done tucking in Christopher, he joined Celeste in bed.

"What story did you tell Christopher?" Celeste asked as thunder sounded.

"Er…"

"The one about the sea monster?" Celeste asked disapprovingly. "You know that gives him nightmares."

"'e wanted to 'ear it." Jack said. "'e asked."

Celeste sighed. "Well, anyway, good night, Jack." she bid him.

"Nigh', love." he said and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

A few hours later, there was a knock on the door. Jack and Celeste were both asleep and did not hear it. It was Christopher. He peeked inside and walked over to the bed.

"Daddy." he said quietly and poked Jack in the back. Jack stirred and turned over tiredly, opening his eyes.

"'ey, Christopher." Jack whispered. "Wha's wrong?"

"I had the dream again." Christopher replied.

"Oh, great, your mother's goin' to kill me for tellin' you that story…" Jack muttered.

Just then, Celeste woke up and sat up to see what was going on.

"Christopher. Did you have a nightmare again?" she asked. He nodded. "Oh, Jack, I told you!" Thunder sounded.

"Can I sleep in here tonight?" Christopher asked.

"Of course you can." Celeste replied. Jack picked up Christopher and set him between him and Celeste.

Just as they were about to fall asleep, Jocelyn started crying. Celeste sighed and made to get up, but Jack put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll get 'er, love." he said. She smiled sleepily and he got up and went to Jocelyn's crib.

He picked her up and cradled her in his arms. She grabbed a lock of his hair and held tightly onto it. She, like her mother, had a fascination with Jack's hair, and loved it to death. He got Jocelyn to stop crying and kissed her on the cheek. He leaned over and placed her back in her crib but she still clung to his hair. He tried to get her to release it, but every time he did, she whimpered. Celeste looked over at them and smiled.

"Come on, love…" Jack said to Jocelyn. "Let go, sweetheart…" he tried to recover his hair once more, and she whimpered again. He stood, stooped over the crib, tiredly trying to keep her from crying. "Please, darling, let go before Daddy passes out…" Celeste laughed quietly.

After a few minutes, Jocelyn had fallen asleep, and Jack had recovered his hair, and he went back to bed with a pain in his back from stooping for so long.

They were a loving family Celeste and Jack had each had their own share of childhood misfortune, so they tried to give their children everything they never had. Of course, Jack had a tendency to over-spoil them, but he and Celeste always made sure that they would understand that greediness and things like that are terrible and they must avoid them. Christopher was very smart already; he learned to speak quicker than most children did, and loved to learn things. Jocelyn, on the other hand, already was adventurous and took after Jack in many, many ways. She got bored easily and loved being up on deck. She loved the sight of the ocean and always wanted to see new things. Jack and Celeste couldn't have loved them more.

The next day, they went out to meet Celeste's father. Celeste and Jack walked toward him, Celeste holding Jocelyn, and Jack holding Christopher's hand.

"Hello, Father." Celeste greeted as they reached him.

"Hello, Celeste." her father replied.

"Er, well, I suppose you know who I'm married to because of the letter, right?" Celeste asked.

"I do." her father said. "I was sort of hoping I was mistaken, but…"

"Did you come here to insult or to visit me?" she asked.

"My apologies." he offered.

"Anyway, this is my husband, Captain Jack Sparrow." she told him. Jack reluctantly stuck out his hand and shook the hand of Mr. Wyndham.

"Nice to meet you formally, rather than angrily like our last meeting." her father said, forcing a polite tone.

"Yes, quite." Jack agreed, forcing polite as well.

"As I wrote, I have two children now." Celeste told her father. "This is Christopher."

Her father knelt down to greet the child. "Hello, Christopher. It's nice to meet you. I am Mr. Wyndham."

Christopher held out his hand to Mr. Wyndham, and he shook it. "Hello, Mr. Wyndham. Nice to meet you, too."

"How old are you, Christopher?" he asked.

"Three and a half." Christopher replied. "Aren't you Mummy's daddy?" he asked.

"Yes, I am." Mr. Wyndham replied.

"So, that makes you my grandpa, then." Christopher concluded.

"Yes." Mr. Wyndham said, smiling. He stood up.

"And this is Jocelyn." she told him, turning Jocelyn toward Mr. Wyndham. "She's six months old."

Mr. Wyndham sighed. "She's beautiful. They both are. You have beautiful children."

"Thank you." Celeste replied.

Everyone always said their children bore a remarkable resemblance to them. Christopher looked just like Jack, only he had Celeste's eyes and hair color; Jocelyn looked just like Celeste, only she had Jack's eyes and hair color.

"So, would you like to have lunch with us?" Celeste asked. "We're having roast beef."

"Certainly." he replied.

They went back to the Pearl, ate a delicious lunch, and caught up with each other. Jack began to realize that Celeste's father wasn't such a bad guy only when Marie was around. They all actually had a pretty good time together. They were to have lunch again the next day.

Once more, the next day, they went out to greet Celeste's father. Celeste carrying Jocelyn, and Jack holding Christopher's hand.

"Good day, sir." Jack greeted politely, and actually meaning it this time.

"Hello, Father." Celeste greeted.

"Good day to… all of you." her father greeted cheerfully. "I must say I had a wonderful time yesterday."

"Well, today shouldn't be any different." Celeste said happily. "Today, we're" She stopped and gazed at something past her father.

Up walked Marie.

Celeste looked at her father angrily. "I thought I said not to bring her."

"Well, you still have to learn that you can't have everything your way." Marie sneered. "The world doesn't revolve around you."

Celeste glared at Marie. She leaned over to Jack and whispered, "Take Christopher and Jocelyn inside, please. I don't want them to know Marie."

"Sure, darling." Jack said and kissed Celeste's cheek.

"_Must_ you do that out here?" Marie asked impatiently.

Celeste ignored her. She handed Jocelyn to Jack and patted Christopher's head. "You go with Daddy, okay?" Christopher nodded.

"Come on, son." Jack said, picking Christopher up.

Celeste looked back at them lovingly. She loved her sweet, strong, wonderful husband, she loved her children she loved them so much.

"Well, Celeste, it looks like you've gone and gotten pregnant like I thought you would." Marie sneered.

"I'm married! I can do whatever I want!" Celeste cried.

"You married a piece of scum!" Marie lectured. "He's just a pirate nothing more! What's the truth? Were you pregnant when you married him?"

"NO!" Celeste yelled. "How _dare _you?"

"Well, you never do know!" Marie replied.

"What did you bring her here for?" Celeste asked her father. "Can't you even walk out the door without her?"

"Celeste, she's part of the family now." her father told her.

"Not part of _my_ family!" Celeste protested. "Can't you see that she's just using you? Why can't you see it?"

"How dare you say I " Marie began, but stopped when Jack walked up. "I don't think our business is any concern of yours."

"Well, Marie…" Mr. Wyndham began, "Jack is actually a very good man. He seems very devoted to Celeste and their family…"

"Anyone can lie." Marie snapped. "I know what I'm talking about, Henry, you know I do!" Mr. Wyndham silenced and Marie looked back at Jack. "Anyway, our business is no concern of yours."

"But, Marie," Celeste began, faking reasonable, "he's part of the family now."

"Your mistake, not mine." Marie said.

"I didn't make a mistake my father did." Celeste told her venomously; Jack put an arm around her.

Marie narrowed her eyes. "How _dare_ you say something so disrespectful to me? I put up with you for years! And what were you ever good for? Nothing."

"I can't believe you don' see what this woman is doin' to you!" Jack said to Celeste's father. "She's brainwashed you!"

"I don't think it's your place" her father began, but Jack cut him off.

"Oh, it's my place, mate believe me."

"I'm so disappointed in you, Celeste." Marie told her. "You've got a worthless husband and useless life." Celeste clenched her fists. "Your children don't seem very intelligent or good looking"

Suddenly, Celeste pulled a knife from under the ruffles of her dress, lunged at Marie, and pressed the knife blade to her throat.

"Celeste!" her father cried.

"Don't you _dare_ insult my children." Celeste hissed. "Don't you dare. I don't take well to people who insult my children." She pressed the blade harder on Marie's throat and cut it slightly; Marie winced. Her father was frightened to move for fear of Celeste doing something drastic.

Jack placed a hand gently on Celeste's arm. "Celeste, sweetheart, give me the knife." he said softly. She continued glaring at Marie, both now shaking. "Come on, baby, let go." Celeste slowly pulled the knife away from Marie and Jack took it. He and Celeste stepped back and he put an arm around her. Marie recoiled into Celeste's father's arms, clutching her neck as Jack put the knife away..

Celeste continued to glare at Marie with the utmost revulsion. "You know, someday, Marie," she began venomously, "you're going to die, and I'm going to be there… If I'm not the one holding the axe."

Jack's eyes widened. "Darling, be careful what you say." he warned. He looked at Celeste's father. "She's a little shaken up, she didn' mean that."

"Yes, I did." Celeste said quietly. "You can't ruin my life anymore, Marie. I've got everything you couldn't have because you didn't deserve it. I have something you'll never have and that… is my payback to you."

Marie glared at Celeste.

Jack leaned over and spoke to Celeste. "Come on, Princess, let's go inside." Celeste nodded. They turned and began to walk back to the ship. Celeste looked back.

"It was nice to see you, Father." she said. "Maybe we can see each other again soon without her." and she turned away and she and Jack walked back to the ship.

"Who was that?" Christopher asked as Jack and Celeste came aboard. He'd been waiting on deck with Gibbs, who was holding Jocelyn.

"A very terrible lady." Celeste replied. "Forget all about her."

"Alright, Mummy." Christopher agreed innocently.

That night, Celeste put Jocelyn to bed and climbed into bed with Jack.

"Why did he have to bring Marie?" Celeste asked, bringing the subject up.

"I don' know, Princess." Jack replied. "Because she's evil?"

She sighed. "Well, yes, that's true…"

"Forget it, love." Jack told her. "For tonight, anyway." She sighed and nodded. He kissed her.

The next morning, Celeste and Jack went out to the market and left Christopher and Jocelyn in Gibbs's and Anamaria's care. They walked into the town square and saw Marie at the other side of it, standing with some guards. She saw them and pointed frantically and yelled something, but they couldn't hear it. The guards rushed over to them.

"Celeste Wyndham?" one asked.

"…No…" Celeste replied. "Celeste Sparrow."

"Well, you're under arrest." the guard stated, taking her arm.

"_What_!" Celeste cried. "For what!"

"Attempted murder." the guard replied. Jack grabbed onto Celeste's other arm and held onto it tightly.

"You're not arrestin' my wife for somethin' she didn' do!" Jack exclaimed, pulling Celeste towards him.

"We are under orders, sir." the guard insisted, pulling Celeste back towards him. "We must arrest her."

"No!" Jack yelled, pulling Celeste back towards him.

"Sir, we are bound by the law." the guard said, yanking Celeste back towards him.

"I don' care! She didn' do anythin'!" Jack exclaimed, pulling Celeste back towards him.

"Sir, please let go." the guard told him, pulling Celeste back.

"No! She's innocent!" Jack yelled, pulling Celeste back.

"Will you please stop yanking me around? I'm not unbreakable!" Celeste exclaimed. "I don't understand what exactly is going on here what do you mean murder?"

"It isn't our place to say, madam, I'm sorry." the guard replied. "Now, please, sir, release her." He pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Jack, who reluctantly let go of Celeste. "We will be taking her down to the jail until the commodore has time to speak with her. It will be in about an hour."

"Well, I'm coming with her, then!" Jack insisted.

"No. You aren't allowed." the guard said.

"It's alright, Jack." Celeste told him calmly, hiding her worry. "Go home to Christopher and Jocelyn. Come and check on me later they need you more than I do."

Jack thought for a minute and then sighed. "Alrigh'. But someone's losin' their 'ead for this."

"And it may well be Celeste." Marie said, walking up.

"Jack, don't listen to her just leave!" Celeste warned. "She's just trying to make you angry so you'll say something you don't mean! She's a silver-tongued witch! Go home! Hurry!" Jack nodded hesitantly and hurried off. "What do you have to do with this, Marie?"

"Like you don't know!" Marie cried.

"I don't!" Celeste exclaimed.

"You tried to murder me last night!" Marie yelled.

"What! I did not!" Celeste retorted. "I was at home last night! The whole crew can prove it!"

"We'll talk about this later." the guard interrupted and dragged Celeste off. She glared back at Marie who glared back at her. They arrived at the jail and the guard threw Celeste in a cell. She knew it would be useless to yell, so she sat down on a bench at the end of the cell.

"Hey." a voice said. She looked around and saw that she wasn't alone in the cell. There was a man who looked very ominous. "You, gorgeous, how you doin'?" Celeste raised an eyebrow and looked away from him. "I'm talkin' to you!" Celeste just glanced over and smiled politely (actually it was more of a there-I-reacted-now-leave-me-alone kind of smile), and returned her gaze to the cell bars. "What's a doll like you doin' in a place like this?"

By this time, she was quite irritated and rather annoyed with the man. "Attempted murder." she replied. The man raised his eyebrows in surprise and abandoned annoying her, fearing the results.

An hour later, a guard came and got Celeste. He took her up to an interrogating room where Commodore Valentine was waiting for her.

"Oh, Commodore!" Celeste exclaimed, relieved. "I knew you'd come you're going to tell them that this is all nonsense, right?"

He avoided her eyes. "…No, Mrs. Sparrow… I'm afraid I don't have a hand in this… Marie Wyndham says that you attacked her at precisely midnight last night with an axe. She said that she very narrowly escaped."

"My stepmother is a liar!" Celeste cried. "Commodore, you know me! Would I do something like this!"

"No, I didn't think you would, but this isn't something I have control of." he replied guiltily. "Look, I'm afraid we're going to have to keep you here…"

"No!" Celeste exclaimed. "I-I have children! My daughter is only six months! They need me! Please, Commodore, please! You know us! And you know my children! Please just let me stay with them! We won't leave, I promise you! Please!"

The Commodore thought for a minute. "Alright, since you are a mother, we will allow you to stay with your children. We will be disabling the Black Pearl so that you cannot leave port, though."

"Fine! Whatever!" Celeste cried. "I just want to be with my children!"

The Commodore looked around the room and thought. He looked at the guards. "Leave us for a moment, please." The guards nodded and left. "Look, Mrs. Sparrow, this honestly is beyond me, but you are a friend of mine and I do know you well. I know you would never do anything like this. I am doing all I can to help you in this case, but I can only do so much. I'm not even technically supposed to let you stay on your ship even if we disable it. I have to say that if you leave, I'll take full responsibility for it I would lose my job for sure and maybe my head. I really am doing all I can. Please understand my position."

Celeste sighed. "I'm sorry, Commodore, this is just a lot to handle. …Thank you for all you're doing."

"You and Jack are good friends of mine it's the least I can do." he replied.

So it was set. The Pearl was disabled by some of Commodore Valentine's guards, and Celeste was able to stay there. She went aboard and explained the situation to Jack, who was furious about it. They were sitting on their bed in their room, discussing it. Christopher happened to walk in towards the end of the conversation.

"Oh, hey, Christopher, I thought you were asleep." Celeste said, lightening her tone and expression.

"I just woke up." Christopher replied and went to Celeste, who picked him up and hugged him. "Are you in trouble, Mummy?" Celeste and Jack exchanged glances.

"Well… Mummy's gettin' blamed for somethin' she didn' do." Jack explained.

"What's going to happen?" Christopher asked.

"She's goin' to 'ave to go to court an' answer a lot o' questions." Jack told him. "Then, they'll realize they were wrong an' let 'er go."

"Oh…" Christopher concluded. "Okay… As long as you're going to stay here."

Celeste smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm staying here. No matter what. _Nothing_ can tear me away from you and Jocelyn and Daddy. Nothing. Not even the law."

Christopher smiled and hugged her. "I love you, Mummy."

"I love you, too, sweetheart." she replied, smiling. "You want us to tuck you in?"

He nodded and they went to his room and tucked their son in for the night. After they finished, they returned to their room.

"Oh, Jack, they just _have_ to find me innocent!" Celeste said, flopping down on the bed. "They_ have_ to! Do you know how serious this is, Jack! They could hang me for this! They hung Ottoman! Who's to say they won't hang me!"

He lied down next to her and put his arms around her. "They _won'_ 'ang you." he assured. "I won' let them. Don' worry, Princess, we're Sparrows we'll find a way out o' this."

"But there's no breaking the law this time." Celeste said. "Sparrows do that from time to time, you know."

"I know, but this is different." Jack replied. "We'll get through it I promise you."

Celeste sighed and nodded.

The next day, Celeste decided to go out and visit Will and Elizabeth Turner and take Jocelyn with her. Will and Elizabeth had been doing wonderfully. They already had three children (two older boys and one younger girl), and Elizabeth was pregnant again. Celeste told them of her predicament and they were very concerned. They said that they would do whatever they could to help her, and she thanked them. She actually had a very good time visiting them and was glad to have gotten out to see them.

"Alright, I'll tell Jack that you said so." Celeste said, leaving the house. She didn't notice a hooded stranger watching her. Will and Elizabeth stood at the doorway and said farewell to her. She walked off, carrying Jocelyn, and headed home.

"Excuse me, miss." the stranger said, coming up to her, having noticed her friendship with the Turners. "I'm new in town would ye happen to know the whereabouts of Jack Sparrow?"

"Captain Jack Sparrow?" Celeste confirmed. "Why, yes, I would."

"Could ye tell me where he is?" the stranger asked.

"Of course I'm headed over there myself." Celeste replied cheerfully. "May I ask your name?"

"…Cortes."

"Cortes?" Celeste asked. "Hmm… sounds familiar…"

"I'm an old friend of Jack's." the stranger told her.

"Oh?" she asked. "Well… Hmm… Cortes… I'm sure I've heard of you. Oh, dash my memory." They walked through town, headed for the Pearl.

"And who might ye be, Miss?" the stranger inquired.

"Oh, pardon me for not introducing myself." Celeste apologized. "Celeste Sparrow."

The stranger glanced over at her. "Sparrow? Ye related to Jack?"

"His wife." Celeste replied happily.

"And the child?"

"Ours." Celeste said. "Her name is Jocelyn." She looked down at Jocelyn and smiled and Jocelyn laughed adorably. She smiled and looked back to the stranger. "So, how did you know Jack?"

"I used to be part of his crew." the stranger replied.

"Oh?" she asked. "I must've heard of you… Excuse my poor memory."

"Yes, I'm sure ye've heard of me." the stranger said. "How long have ye and Jack been married?"

"Mm… about five years." Celeste replied.

"Any other children?"

Celeste began to grow uneasy because of all the questions. "Well, you can catch up with Jack when you see him I'm sure he'll be delighted to tell you."

"I'm sure he will."

They boarded the Pearl and were greeted by Jack, who paid the stranger no heed and took Jocelyn from Celeste. The crew were all down in the dining hall, eating lunch.

"An' 'ow's me little girl?" he asked Jocelyn in a babying voice. "Did you 'ave fun goin' into town with Mummy?" Jocelyn laughed and he kissed her on the cheek.

"Oh, Jack," Celeste began, "on my way back from Will and Elizabeth's, I ran into someone who says they're a friend of yours."

Jack let Jocelyn rest on his shoulder and looked at the stranger who lowered their hood. Jack's eyes widened as he held Jocelyn closer and backed up. Celeste backed up as well.

"'ow 'ow is that… possible!" Jack gasped.

"Jack, who is it?" Celeste asked warily. Jack just stared in awe.

"Excuse me, Madam, Captain Barbossa pleasure." he said.

"Barbossa!" Celeste exclaimed. "It can't be! Barbossa is dead! _You_ killed him, Jack!"

Barbossa smiled. "Thanks to a good friend of mine who just happens to be a witchdoctor, I'm very much alive." He glanced around the ship. "Well, Jack, ye've come a long way. Yer wife is beautiful."

"I know." Jack replied, still wary (though a pirate can never be too wary to be arrogant).

"And here ye are a family. How touchin'." Barbossa said.

"Cut it what do you want?" Jack asked.

"Well, that would ruin the surprise." Barbossa replied. "Ye've got somethin' that I need…"

"An' that is?" Jack asked. He didn't care what he had to do, he wanted Barbossa off of his ship and _away_ from his family.

"Yer tryin' to get me to ruin the surprise." Barbossa replied.

Just then, Gibbs came up on deck with Christopher, who hurried over to Jack.

"Daddy, are you coming to lunch?" Christopher asked.

"Barbossa!" Gibbs exclaimed.

"Long story, Gibbs." Barbossa replied. "Long time no see." He stepped closer to Jack and Celeste went to Christopher. She knelt down next to him. "I'd like for ye to meet me at these bearin's." Barbossa handed Jack a piece of parchment; Jack took it.

"Now, why am I thinking 'no…?'" Jack asked sarcastically.

"Because yer the same fool you always were." Barbossa replied.

Suddenly, he lunged over and kicked Celeste; she fell to the floor. He grabbed Christopher and ran off at top speed. Jack quickly handed Jocelyn to Gibbs and he and Celeste dashed off the ship.

"STOP!" Jack yelled. "YOU BASTARD, GET BACK 'ERE!" Celeste didn't object to the use of language here she would've said the same had she not been a lady.

"HELP!" Celeste screamed. "KIDNAPPING!"

They dashed after Barbossa, but he was too quick. For being a fairly old man, he was darn fast. Celeste's dress suddenly got caught on a rock and she went flying to the ground face first. Jack, of course, kept chasing after Barbossa.

"STOP!" Jack yelled at the top of his lungs, running as fast as he could.

Barbossa ran down a dock and onto a large ship. He and several other crew members pulled in the gangplank. Jack tried to jump to the ship's deck, but fell short and fell into the water, but scraped his head on the side of the ship he was that close…

Just then, Celeste caught up and stood on the dock, screaming at the departing ship, panicking. Commodore Valentine just happened to be out that day he heard the commotion, and ran over.

"What's happened?" he asked urgently as Jack climbed out of the water.

"THEY KIDNAPPED OUR SON!" Celeste screamed hysterically. "WE HAVE TO GO AFTER THEM _NOW_!"

"Mummy! Daddy!" Christopher yelled. They saw that Pintel and Ragetti were restraining him.

"Christopher!" Celeste screamed. "Don't worry, sweetheart, we'll save you!"

"Come on, we're goin' after them." Jack stated, grabbing Celeste's hand.

"Wait just a moment you aren't allowed to leave the city, remember?" Valentine told them. "Your ship we disabled it…"

Celeste's heart sunk and she began to panic even more, beginning to get hysterical. "COMMODORE, THEY HAVE MY CHILD!" she screamed, in tears. "I DON'T CARE WHAT WE HAVE TO DO I WANT MY CHILD BACK!"

"Mrs. Sparrow, please, I will do all I can to help you." Valentine told her. "I'm on your side you know that."

"THIS ISN'T A MATTER OF SIDES, COMMODORE, THIS ISN'T SOME STUPID CASE IN WHICH I AM INNOCENT THIS IS MY SON! I AM NOT RISKING ONE SPARE MOMENT! I WANT A SHIP TO CHASE AFTER THEM _RIGHT THIS MOMENT_!"

"Mr. Sparrow, please control your wife, she's hyster"

"CONTROL MY WIFE!" Jack cried. "IT'S NOT YOUR CHILD THA'S BEEN KIDNAPPED, COMMODORE! YOU DON' 'AVE CHILDREN YOU DON' KNOW!"

"Alright, alright, please calm down." Valentine told them. By that time, guards had caught up to him and were waiting for orders. "Davies, get someone to fix the rudder chain on the Black Pearl fix it as fast as you can. Get as many men on it as possible and get it done fast." Davies nodded and hurried off. "Lenmark, you're going to be in charge while I'm gone."

"Gone, sir?" Lenmark asked.

"I will be accompanying the Sparrows until they return with their son." Valentine replied. "They are personal friends of mine and I take it upon myself to aid them in whatever way possible. Mrs. Sparrow is currently confined to this town, but under the circumstances, I shall allow her to leave as long as I go with her."

Celeste was crying in Jack's arms, emotions scattered everywhere. She'd broken down into sobs, while Jack was bottling his anger as best he could. What Commodore Valentine had said did make him feel a little better, though. This way, it was at least legal. If he had his way, he would've commandeered a ship already and would be chasing after Barbossa as they spoke. But things were different now. There was Celeste and Jocelyn to think of, of course, and the crew.

"H-how long does it take to fix the rudder chain?" Celeste sobbed.

"Usually, it would be done by tomorrow, but… seeing as this is an extreme emergency, I will deploy more men on it and have it done in a few hours." Valentine told her. Celeste sobbed she tried to say "thank you," but it didn't come out, so Jack said it.

"Thank you, Commodore." he said sincerely. "We really are grateful."

Valentine nodded and Jack and Celeste went back to the ship while he went to set a few things in order before they left.

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"Every writer begins his novel with a great book and fifteen prostitutes and then some cotton wool and then a long striped animal." -Johnny Depp, Finding Neverland (outtakes)

I thought that was hilarious. Wise words from Johnny. I'm not sure if that's the exact quote - he was hard to understand. Anyway, I personallyleave out the prostitutes, but the long striped animal! That's me muse! Hahahaha, just kidding.Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed this chapter! PLEASE REVIEW!

EVERYONE GO AND BUY FINDING NEVERLAND! IT's the best!


	2. Chapter 2: Disasters in Waiting

NEW CHAPTER! Thanks to iliveinmiddleearth and Johnny'shumiliatedgrape for reviewing! As always, I LOVE YOU GUYS!

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Chapter 2: Disasters in Waiting

Jack and Celeste went down to the cargo hold to treat Jack's wounded head. Celeste got the things she would need to treat it and Jack sat down on a crate. Celeste removed Jack's bandana and started to clean the wound. They were both unusually quiet and prone to staring off into nothing. Celeste finished bandaging Jack's head and began to cry again. Jack put his arms around her and rested his head on her chest. She hugged him back.

"Oh, Jack, I hope he's alright!" she sobbed.

"Me too, Princess." Jack replied hoarsely, holding back tears. After a few minutes, Celeste overcame her tears and she and Jack went up on deck to wait for Commodore Valentine's arrival. A little while later, he did arrive, and they gave him a room. His men had started work on the rudder chain already and were working at top speed. They didn't finish until that evening.

Celeste and Jack went to bed early, stress was tiring them out. They had set sail and were going to sail as late as they could, but Jack couldn't take it Anamaria volunteered to take over helm-duty for him instead.

Celeste and Jack readied for bed and lied down tiredly. Just then, Jocelyn started crying.

"Oh, I know that cry." Celeste told Jack. "It's the 'I'm really bored, so pick me up' cry."

"Ah, I'll remember that." Jack said. "I'll get 'er." He went over to Jocelyn's crib and picked her up, moving Shakespeare, Celeste's old stuffed bear she'd passed on to Jocelyn, to the side. He went back to the bed and lied down, letting Jocelyn rest on his chest. Celeste moved closer to him and he put an arm around her. "My lovely girls…" he sighed. "Both stunningly beautiful an' I love them more than they know." Celeste smiled. Jocelyn grabbed a lock of Jack's hair as she always did. Celeste ran her finger along Jack's jaw to his braided beard which Jocelyn then grabbed onto with her other hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Celeste said, smiling, acting like she offended Jocelyn. "Daddy is all yours I wasn't aware of that." Celeste and Jack laughed, and although she had no idea what was going on, Jocelyn laughed as well. Celeste sighed. "I want Christopher back…"

"Me too, love." he replied sadly. "We'll get 'im back I promise. An' I'll skin Barbossa for what 'e's done."

"I'll help you keep that promise." Celeste told him. Jocelyn had lost interest in Jack's beard and let it go. Celeste stroked Jocelyn's cheek with her forefinger. She started to retrieve her hand, but Jocelyn grabbed onto it. Celeste smiled. "It's funny how cruel, demented, vicious pirates couldn't really irk us, but this little girl can weaken us so much…"

"Aye." Jack agreed. "Makes me wonder 'ow anyone could ever abandon their child."

"Like my mother?" Celeste asked. Jack nodded.

"Or your father. 'e jus' stopped carin' once that woman came into 'is life."

"Yes…" Celeste replied. "I don't understand how someone could do that to their child… I guess we just love ours too much."

"Well, it's good that we do." Jack told her. "I swear… if Barbossa leaves even a scratch to speak of on my son, I will rip 'is throat out before skinnin' 'im." Jocelyn sensed Jack's anger and whimpered. He looked down at her. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm not angry at you." He kissed her cheek and smiled at her; she laughed.

Celeste smiled. "You know, it's obvious that we have the most adorable daughter in the world."

"O' course we do." Jack agreed. Celeste rested her head on Jack's shoulder, looking at Jocelyn. She sighed, her smile gone, worried about Christopher. Jocelyn, apparently trying to cheer Celeste up, poked her in the face and laughed. Celeste and Jack both laughed as well.

"She knows something is wrong…" Celeste said and patted Jocelyn's head. "You want your brother back, don't you? …Don't worry… Daddy is going to kill the bad man."

"You can bet Shakespeare I am." he added, smiling. "…Well, I suppose we better get to bed."

"I suppose so. Good night, Jocelyn." Celeste said, and kissed her on the cheek.

Jack stood up, carried Jocelyn to her crib, and placed her in it. He covered her with her blankets and set Shakespeare next to her.

"Nigh', love." he bid her and kissed her head. He climbed back into bed and put his arms around Celeste. She sighed, grief flooding her mind. "I 'ate this feelin'… feelin' like… I can't do anythin'… even for me own son…"

"I hate it, too, Jack… but there really is nothing we can do right now…" she replied.

"Kiss me, darling." he said; she looked at him. "Give me one of those kisses that makes me feel like everythin's goin' to be alrigh'."

"…I can't make everything alright, though."

"But you can sure make me _feel _like everythin' is for a few moments, anyway." he told her. "For a few moments… there's jus' nothin' else." He placed a hand on her cheek and he kissed her.

The next day, Jack and Celeste went up on deck and spoke with Commodore Valentine.

"Good morning." they greeted, Jack with an arm around Celeste.

"Good morning." Valentine greeted.

Celeste sighed. "Do you know how long until we'll be at the bearings we have to go to?" she asked wearily.

"Yes, Miss Anamaria said we would be there in… well, in five days…" Valentine replied.

"_Five days_!" Jack cried.

"Our poor baby!" Celeste exclaimed, throwing her arms around Jack.. "Oh, he must be terrified!" Jack put both of his arms around her.

"I'm terribly sorry for what happened I can only imagine what you must be going through." Valentine said. "I _am _sorry."

"Thank you." Jack replied sincerely, rubbing Celeste's back comfortingly.

"I didn't get the chance to ask do you know who the kidnapper is?" Valentine asked. "No one's told me."

Jack nodded. "Aye." he replied hesitantly. "It's… Barbossa."

"Barbossa?" Valentine asked confusedly. "I thought he was dead. I thought _you_ killed him."

"I did." Jack replied. "He's come back, somehow. He mentioned a witchdoctor… maybe it 'as somethin' to do with Voodoo magic or somethin'… I don' know."

"Hmm…" Valentine mumbled. "That's something to think on… Well, we'll see what happens. We certainly don't have the means to arrest him. If I had brought my fleet, we wouldn't have gotten there for a long time we have much slower ships. This _is_ the legendary Black Pearl, after all."

"Aye." Jack agreed.

The rest of the day was spent wasting time, trying to pass the days until they could get Christopher back. The next day, Jack spent the whole day in his room, while Celeste decided to stay up on deck with the crew. She kept Jocelyn with her for quite a while since she loved being up on deck so much. Celeste knew that this whole situation was absolutely killing Jack, but she felt it might be best if he were left alone. Celeste was in and out of the room all day she didn't want to be cooped up inside. Early that evening, she went up on deck again with Jocelyn and spent several hours there. It was nighttime before she went back to her room, carrying Jocelyn. Jack was sitting at his desk, drinking something, but Celeste didn't see it because she turned to close the door; he set the bottle on the floor.

"Oh, 'ey, love." he greeted uneasily.

"Jocelyn is tired she wants to go to sleep." Celeste said, carrying Jocelyn to her crib and placing her in it. "What are you up to?" she asked, nearing his desk.

"Nothin'." he replied innocently. She eyed him suspiciously.

"What is that smell…?" she asked, thinking. Her eyes widened. "You haven't been drinking, have you?"

"What? No."

"No, because you would never do that." Celeste stated, bottling her anger. "You would never drink because you promised me. You _promised_. And you've never broken a promise to me _ever_. And you would never drink around your children. Of course not you love them too much for that, don't you?"

"O'-o' course I do." he stuttered.

"Right, of course." she said. She walked around to his side of the desk. He was hiding something behind his leg. "And what is that?"

"What?" he asked innocently.

"That."

"What?"

"That!" she exclaimed, knelt down, and picked up a bottle of rum. Her lip curled in anger as she stared at it. She glared at him. "Why is this here?" she asked slowly, but venomously.

"N-now, darling, you you 'ave to let me explain…" he stuttered. She continued to glare. "I-I was jus' gettin'… really worried about Christopher an'… an'…"

"Jack, we decided that this is not the way to escape from your problems!" she cried.

"I know, I"

"You _promised_ me, Jack!" she yelled. "I can't believe you broke a promise to me! You've never done that before! Never!" Jocelyn started crying because of all the noise.

"Darling"

"Save it." she said venomously. "Save it. I can't believe you would do this. I'm not letting my daughter be exposed to this." She couldn't listen to Jocelyn cry anymore the last thing she wanted was for her child to be distressed. She went over and picked Jocelyn up. "I'll be back in a minute." she said to Jack. "Don't you move." She left the room, patting Jocelyn on the back, and stood out in the hall, trying to calm her down. After a few minutes, she did so and went to Anamaria's room. "Anamaria, could you do me a favor?"

"Sure." Anamaria replied. "What is it?"

"Would you watch Jocelyn for a little while?" Celeste asked. "I have to yell at Jack and I don't want her to hear it."

"Erm, alright." Anamaria agreed.  
"Thank you." Celeste told her, handing Jocelyn to her. "I'll be back in a few minutes." She left the room and went back to Jack. "Now, you let me talk. I've only seen you drunk once, but who knows what you could be like. Who knows? The thing is… if you're drunk, you're a threat to us. You're a threat to both me and my children and I won't let that go on."

"I would never 'urt you _or _our children, love." Jack stated staunchly.

"How would you know if you're as drunk as a dog?" she asked bitterly. "You _promised _me you would stop!"

"Darling, I'm sorry…" he apologized.

"You'd better be." she stated. "Honestly, if you don't give up alcohol for good and I know it's addicting I will take the steps I need to take."

"Steps?"

"Yes, once we get Christopher back, if you don't give it up for good, I will take him and Jocelyn, leave you, and raise them myself." she told him angrily.

His brow furrowed. "Y-you wouldn' do"

"Oh, wouldn't I?" she asked. "You know how much I hate alcohol, Jack, and if I find one trace of it ever again after tonight, I won't hesitate to take my children and leave." He was speechless he would never want that to happen… "You think about that for a while. One more _drop_, Jack Sparrow, and you'll never see me or your children again no matter how much we love you." She grabbed one end of Jocelyn's crib and pulled it out of the room. She shut the door and left Jack to his guilt and thoughts. She pushed the crib into a vacant room and went back to Anamaria's.

"What were you yelling at Jack about?" Anamaria asked curiously.

"Oh, he was drinking." Celeste replied, annoyed at his actions. She sighed. "Anyway, thank you for watching Jocelyn for me. We won't be sleeping in Jack's company tonight."

"Well, you're welcome." Anamaria said. "Such a darling girl." She handed Jocelyn to Celeste.

"Thank you again. Good night." Celeste bid.

"Good night." Anamaria replied and Celeste left the room and went into the vacant room she'd put Jocelyn's crib in. She sat down on the bed and leaned up against the headboard, letting Jocelyn rest on her shoulder. Jocelyn reached up and grabbed a piece of Celeste's hair, but let it go in disinterest.

"Dah!" Jocelyn exclaimed, apparently wanting Jack.

"No, you can't see Daddy now, Jocelyn." Celeste said and Jocelyn started whimpering. "No, Jocelyn, you can't see Daddy." Jocelyn started crying and then so did Celeste.

'Oh, what am I going to do?' she thought, crying, and trying to comfort Jocelyn. 'What if I have to raise them myself? …I'll be fine. I'll be fine.'

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Celeste asked, sniffling.

"Me." Jack replied.

"Dah!" Jocelyn exclaimed, recognizing Jack's voice and reached out to the door.

"I don't want to see you, Jack!" she yelled.

"Too bad!" Jack yelled back and barged in; he was carrying the rum bottle.

"Don't you bring that thing in here." she ordered. "Where did you get it, anyway? You haven't been keeping a stash, have you?"

"O' course not." Jack replied. "It was in the galley…"

"Just get out." Celeste ordered. "You haven't felt guilty long enough."

"Dah!" Jocelyn cried, reaching out to Jack.

"No, Jocelyn, Daddy is leaving." Celeste told her, and Jocelyn started crying. "Aren't you, Jack?"

"Celeste, what are you doing?" Jack asked wearily. "What on _earth _are you doing?" She glared at him.

"When you don't smell like alcohol, maybe you can come back and talk." Celeste replied angrily. "Get rid of that smell and I'll let you back in."

He sighed. "Fine." he said and left; Jocelyn continued crying.

A little while later, Jack reentered the room (Jocelyn was still crying). He was still carrying the bottle. Celeste was about to protest when he went over to the window, opened it, poured out the rum, and dropped the bottle into the ocean. He went to Celeste.

"Alcohol free." Jack stated and leaned over and kissed Celeste as proof. "Satisfied?"

"Just keep it that way and it'll be fine. …You taste like soap…" Celeste stated. She sighed and looked down at Jocelyn. "Anyway, she's been crying for you since we left our room here." she handed Jocelyn to Jack.

"'ey, sweetheart." Jack said, kissing Jocelyn's cheek and she grabbed onto a lock of Jack's hair as usual. "I was jus' worried, Celeste… I couldn' shake the feelin', alrigh'? I'm worried sick about Christopher."

"Don't deal with the worry that way, Jack." Celeste told him. "Haven't we talked about this before? No more drinking. Honestly, I will leave you and take our children with me."

"I-I 'eard you the first several times, love." Jack replied.

"Well, maybe it bears repeating." Celeste said.

Jack patted Jocelyn on the back comfortingly. She was still whimpering. "No more crying, Princess, savvy?" He kissed her cheek. Celeste watched him; she would never want to leave. Never. But if she had to, she would. He tickled Jocelyn and she laughed, her tears gone. Jack smiled and looked up at Celeste. "Come back to our room, don' stay 'ere."

Celeste thought for a moment. "Will you put Jocelyn to bed for me?" He nodded and got up and did so. He went back to her.

"Come on, sweetheart, don' leave me all cold an' alone." he coxed, taking her hand.

She slipped her hand from his grasp. "You know, I think a night alone might help drill this situation into your head." He sighed. "Good night, Jack."

He looked at her. "Good nigh', Celeste." he bid sadly and left the room.

The next day, Celeste moved everything back to her and Jack's room, only after Jack promised swore on the Pearl, actually that he wouldn't drink anymore. This day was spent just like the others, wasting time, trying to pass the days. Jack and Celeste had gone back to normality. They acted like they usually did, as if they didn't fight the night before, going on with daily routine and random public displays of affection (which the crew had long ago gotten used to, but Commodore Valentine wasn't so happy with it). Celeste noticed Valentine's displeasure and explained to him that it was only when they were on the ship, never in actual public, and she was sorry for her and Jack's improper behavior.

That night, Celeste and Jack had just laid down to go to sleep, when Jack started feeling sick…

"Ugh… sweetheart, I don' feel so well…" Jack groaned.

"What's wrong?" Celeste asked, worriedly.

"I-I think I'm goin' to be sick…" Jack replied sickly.

"Oh!" Celeste exclaimed, worried. "Can I get you something!"

"No it's alrigh'… … …No, it's not." he said, and rushed into their bathroom. Celeste looked worriedly after him, hoping nothing serious was wrong. After about ten minutes, she began to get worried. She got up and went to the bathroom door.

"Jack?" she asked gently, concerned, placing a hand on the door. "Jack, darling?" There was no response. "Baby, are you alright?"

Just then, Jack opened the door quickly, causing Celeste to jump in surprise. He looked fine. He didn't look pale or sick at all he looked healthier than he did before, actually. He didn't look tired or stressed like before…

"Oh, Jack, are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"Aye I'm fine. Jus' a dizzy spell is all." he replied, not looking at her. Something was different. He spoke in a sharper tone and scanned the room as if he'd never seen it before. He looked down at her and did a sort of double take. "You look absolutely gorgeous!" he said as if he hadn't seen her that night at all, as if it wasn't the same way she looked every night.

"Er, thank you…?" she replied, wondering why he was acting so strange.

"Well, we shouldn' really waste any time, you know." he told her. "We should get to bed." Celeste nodded and went back to bed and lied down comfortably. Normally, she would've put her arms around him and fallen asleep that way, but… there was something odd about him… He was acting so strangely… Before she could even begin to contemplate the reason for his behavioral change, he leaned over and kissed her wasn't just a goodnight kiss either…

"Jack, no, I'm too worried about Christopher we can't do this now." Celeste said, pushing him away.

"'e'll be fine." Jack told her. "It seemed that Pintel an' Ragetti are watchin' over 'im. I think we can trust that they'll keep 'im out o' 'arm's way."

"And we can trust Barbossa… why?" she asked bitterly.

"I know Pintel an' Ragetti they aren' bad men ." Jack replied.

"I remember running into them back in Tortuga they didn't seem so good to me." Celeste said.

"Well, whatever, 'e'll be fine take my word." Jack told her.

What was going on with Jack? "Take my word?" He'd never said that before. Always "I promise." Why was he acting this way…?

"Anyway," Jack began, climbing on top of her, "you're my wife… isn' this what you're supposed to do for me?"

"Jack, you're acting strange; what's wrong with you?" she asked.

"I'm not myself as of late must be Barbossa's fault." he replied matter-of-factly. He kissed her neck.

"Stop it. I don't want to." she stated.

"Look, poppet, this is what you're 'ere to do, isn' it?" he asked. Poppet? Where did that come from?

"Jack, NO!" she yelled, struggling to get out of his grasp. He did not let her escape.

"You're my wife an' you'll act like one." Jack scolded angrily. "So shut up and like it."

A while later, Celeste decided that there was definitely something wrong. He wasn't being Jack he was hurting her.

"STOP!" she yelled finally, shoving him off her. She jumped up, grabbed her dressing gown off the chair by the bed, and put it on. "Look, I don't know what's wrong with you, but you're not… you!"

"What are you talkin' about?" he asked angrily.

"You wouldn't yell at me and you wouldn't hurt me!" she insisted. "And you'd be more worried about your son!"

"You'd think, wouldn't you?" he asked.

She stared at him for a moment, wondering what to do. Well, after Jack, the person she trusted most would be… Gibbs. She intended to run out of the room and find Gibbs maybe he'd know what to do. She started to run for the door, but Jack jumped up and caught her arm. He threw her back against the wall and grabbed his gun from his belt on the bedside table and aimed it at her. She froze, wincing on the floor. Just then, Jocelyn started crying. Celeste glanced over, but didn't move a muscle.

"Will you shut that up!" Jack yelled. Celeste made to get up, but, "Never mind!"

"Jack, you don't know what you're"

"Silence." he stated venomously; she stifled. He put the gun to her forehead and Jocelyn continued crying. Tears ran down Celeste's cheeks.

"Jack, stop…" she whispered, not able to speak any louder. He released the safety and pulled slightly on the trigger, but not enough to fire it. "I love you… You love our children… you love our life… you love me…" His expression faltered. "Love is what has kept us together… and love is more powerful than anything else… and I love you… so much…" He stood, shaking, and staring at her. She trembled and tears ran down her face, but she didn't break eye contact with him. She slowly raised up one of her hands and gently placed it on his forearm. Suddenly, he blinked and reset the safety on the pistol and dropped it. He stared at her as if he were fighting something inside himself. She stood up, placed her hands on his chest, and kissed him softly. He fell to his knees and fell over she caught him. She laid him on the floor and hurried to Jocelyn.

All Jocelyn apparently wanted was to be held the noise had woken her and scared her. Celeste calmed her down and laid her back in her crib. Jack was struggling to get up and she went to him. She knelt down next to him and he looked up at her.

"Darling…" he whispered. He hugged her. "Oh, Celeste, I could see you I could see you, but I couldn't do anythin'! It was like I was jus' watchin' through my eyes, but I couldn' do anythin'! It wasn' me! It was Barbossa!"

"I know, Jack." she said.

"It wasn' me!" he insisted. "Sweetheart, I'd never 'urt you I love you so much! It wasn' me!"

"I know, Jack, I know." she told him. "Whatever happened, you overcame it."

"It must've been what 'e was talkin' about that witchdoctor voodoo magic an' all!"

"Yes, it must've." she replied. He stood up and sat down on the bed; she sat next to him.

"Before… it's a little fuzzy…" he said, "wh-what exactly did I… well, _he _do to you?"

"I don't want to talk about it." she stated, lying back down.

"Darling, I want to know so I can know 'ow much to 'urt Barbossa before I kill 'im… again." he told her.

"No, I don't want to talk about it." she replied staunchly.

"Please, I need to know."

"I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" she yelled.

He paused. "That bad, huh?" he asked quietly.

"Well, it wasn't you, anyway." she dismissed.

He lied down next to her and put his arms around her. She lied rigid, returning no warmth or emotion at all. He kissed her on the cheek and she just stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry, love." he said sadly. "I'm sorry…"

"You know, don't all criminals try to steal your security and trust above all else?" Celeste asked. "I mean, that's what he was trying to do steal our security. Well, he succeeded." She didn't look at him. "He did exactly what Black tried to do before you showed up to stop him." Jack looked immensely guilty, but angry at the same time.

What a way to take someone's security. Invade their life, traumatize them, violate them while taking on the appearance of the one person they can trust most. How can she fully trust anyone ever again?

"Darling, it's me now, though." he reasoned.

She looked over at him. "Yes, they're your eyes now. But… still… Look, it's you Jack, I know it is." she told him softly. "This just… isn't going to pass easily…"

Jack knew there was nothing he could say that would make her feel any better, so he just let her be. He didn't keep his arms around her, merely took her hand instead, and fell asleep with guilt, sadness, and anger all boiling inside him.

The next day was a clone of the others. Almost. It was spent trying to pass the day quickly, but Celeste was distant. She didn't want to appear so, but she was. She would be unusually rigid when Jack would try to show her any affection at all, and avoided making eye contact with him. She would even be a little nervous whenever he would hold Jocelyn. She didn't want to feel this way, but if there was the risk of him being possessed by Barbossa again, she couldn't take the chance. Gibbs, an expert in superstition, had been informed of Jack's possession and assured Celeste that it couldn't happen again, and it was remarkable that Jack was able to come out of it on his own, but she couldn't help but be paranoid. That night, Celeste was still distant and so was Jack, but his distance was out of guilt, and he certainly didn't want Celeste to feel uncomfortable.

The next day was the one they had been awaiting so much. The day they could finally get their son back. They would meet with Barbossa and get Christopher back. Unfortunately, they all knew it wouldn't be so simple. They knew there was going to be a catch, but they didn't care. No matter what, they were going to save Christopher. _No matter what._

_

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That was a really depressing chapter to write. Made me sad. :weeps: Hope you enoyed it, though! PLEASE REVIEW!


	3. Chapter 3: A Bargain, but Not an Even Tr...

WAHOO FOR A NEW CHAPTER! I've been really busy lately. School is really stressful. I have to finish a lot of stuff. Funny thing is - it's all for film class and drama. Not the required subjects. I'm ignoring my important subject homework for film and drama... Ah, well. Story o' me life. So if I don't update again for a while, you know why! But I'll do me best!

Thanks to: Johnny'shumiliatedgrape and iliveinmiddleearth! YOU GUYS KEEP ME GOING! I LOVE YOU!

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Chapter 3: A Bargain, but Not an Even Trade

The next day, Jack woke up early and checked on Jocelyn. She was awake and obviously restless. She reached out to him and whimpered to be picked up. He picked her up and went up on deck. The sun had just come up and no one was on deck yet. Jack sat down and leaned up against the mast, holding Jocelyn on his lap.

"You still trust me, don' you, sweetheart?" Jack asked Jocelyn wearily. Jocelyn just looked up at him with big, innocent eyes. He sighed. "I love you, Princess." He patted her on the head. "An' I love your Mummy so much… It kills me the way she looks at me now… Like she expects me to jus'… change into Barbossa or somethin'… I know she doesn' blame me, but… she still doesn't fully trust me like she used to… I can't blame 'er for that, but… it 'urts a lot. I don' want to keep lookin' at 'er an' see that she's uneasy around me… All I've ever wanted was for 'er to be 'appy…" He sighed. "Jocelyn, do you ever think she'll look at me the same way again?" he asked, looking out at the horizon.

"I think so."

"Do you really" he stopped and looked down at Jocelyn confusedly. Celeste walked out from behind the mast and sat down next to him. He looked at her. "Oh! It was you who said that! I was goin' to be really shocked for a moment there."

She smiled. "You know, you should've told me what was on your mind." she said. "I would've listened."

"I know, darling… I wanted to, but it's not that easy to say…" he replied. She kissed his cheek and he put an arm around her. She leaned back against the mast with him and Jocelyn.

"I'm sorry I've been acting the way I have…" she told him.

"No, no, love, it's alrigh'." he said. "I understand you don' 'ave to apologize." She smiled and leaned up against him.

They waited up on deck for a little while until Jocelyn wanted to go back inside and lie down again. They waited a little longer until breakfast was ready to leave their room. They ate a bit of breakfast their appetite being mostly gone, and set sail again. They were to arrive today at Barbossa's bearings… After a few hours of sailing, they finally caught up with the ship. Celeste and Jack and Commodore Valentine went out to speak with Barbossa and get Christopher back.

"Greetings, Sparrows and… whoever ye are!" Barbossa called. He had pulled Christopher out on deck, holding a pistol to his head. "Before any of ye can speak, I want to say somethin'! The only way yer gettin' the whelp back is by goin' to Tortuga an' gettin' me a Simul Stone from the witchdoctor there!"

"An' if we refuse…?" Jack asked.

"Well, ye don't have much of a choice, do ye?" Barbossa replied, keeping the gun to Christopher's head.

"Mummy! Daddy!" Christopher yelled.

"Don't worry, Christopher!" Celeste screamed. "Barbossa, just let him go! Have you no mercy!"

"…No." he replied simply.

"Fine then, take me instead!" she yelled. Jack looked at her in surprise.

"Ooh… That's really somethin' to think about…" Barbossa said. "Mrs. Sparrow in my possession, huh?"

"Darling…" Jack began, looking caringly at her. "You can't…"

"What else is there to do?" she asked. "We have to save our son I don't care what it takes." Jack's mind was buzzing he had to think of something else… but he couldn't…

"Mrs. Sparrow, this is an unreasonable choice." Valentine warned. "Who knows what he'll do to you? I would suggest making some kind of bargain."

"No 'e doesn' work that way." Jack said. "I know 'im. 'e wants us to get that stone for 'im. 'e doesn' compromise if 'e wants somethin', 'e's goin' to make us get it…"

"Well!" Celeste yelled.

"Wait a minute, that's _really _somethin' to think on!" Barbossa replied "Well, I mean, I could make Mrs. Sparrow do anythin' and everythin' I want her to do and I could rape her as much as I want!"

"Shut your mouth! We don't need to know the details!" she yelled, disgusted.

"Sweetheart, there_ has_ to be another way." Jack pressed.

"There isn't." she stated.

"I suppose I could use Mrs. Sparrow for somethin'! 'Course… I already used Mrs. Sparrow just a few days ago, didn't I?" Barbossa taunted.

"Oh, 'e's goin' to _pay_ for that one!" Jack exclaimed angrily, starting to get out his pistol.

"Jack, don't." Celeste ordered. "He's got the upper hand here, remember?" She looked at Barbossa. "Well!"

"Hmm… No, I don't think so!" Barbossa replied. "I really have the advantage keepin' the whelp here!"

Celeste panicked. "Then take me also!"

Jack's eyes widened. "No, darling, this won' work!"

"I need to be with Christopher!" Celeste pressed. "We can't leave him alone on some strange ship like before!"

Jack thought for a moment and could think of no other alternative.

"Mrs. Sparrow, this is an extremely unwise decision." Valentine injected. "He will have the complete upper hand. I would not recommend this."

"Commodore, my son is on that ship alone and probably terrified." she stated. "I will go through anything to help him. Anything. I don't care what Barbossa does to me as long as my son is alright." Valentine sighed, defeated.

"You have yourself a deal, Sparrows!" Barbossa yelled. "You're fit, Mrs. Sparrow, you can use a rope to swing across, can't you?"

"Yes, I can!" Celeste yelled bitterly.

"I'll be back as soon as I possibly can." Jack told her.

"I know." Celeste replied and he kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Jack said sadly.

She grabbed a rope from the sails and swung across to Barbossa's ship. She started to run to Christopher, but Barbossa stopped her.

"Ye'd do best not to move until I say so." Barbossa warned coldly.

"Remember, Jack, a Simul Stone!" Barbossa yelled to Jack.

"Aye!" Jack replied doggedly.

"Alright, now off you go!" Barbossa yelled. Jack gave some orders and the Pearl started to move forward.

"Hurry!" Celeste mouthed to Jack. He nodded, worry in his eyes.

After the Pearl left the vicinity of Barbossa's ship, he let Christopher go. Christopher ran to Celeste, who embraced him. "Stand up, missy." he ordered. Celeste, holding Christopher in her arms, stood up. "Put that down." Celeste scowled at him, but obeyed. "Are ye armed?"

"No." she replied.

"Are ye tellin' the truth?" he asked. "I'm goin' to make sure either way."

She scowled at him again and lifted up the skirt of her dress to reveal both her swords strapped to her legs. She unsheathed them and dropped them on the deck. She then pulled out the pistol that was strapped to her lower leg and dropped that as well.

"Is that all?" he asked. She nodded. "Are ye sure?"

She sighed, annoyed, and pulled out a knife from the ruffles of the back of her dress and dropped it on the deck.

"Now, that _has_ to be all." Barbossa stated. She nodded. "Can't be too sure, though." He walked over to her and groped most of her dress and, to finish, gave her chest an unnecessary squeeze. She backed away and knelt next to Christopher, taking him in her arms. "Oh, ye didn't think I was finished with ye." She didn't even look up at him. He marched over and grabbed her arm, trying to pull her up.

"Let go!" she yelled and let go of Christopher for his safety.

"No, ye see, ye have to suffer for Jack to suffer, don't ye?" he asked. He slammed her up against the mast and hit her in the stomach. "Yer husband killed me, ye realize that's not easily forgivable." He backhanded her in the face; she tried to escape, but he kicked her in the back and she fell over.

"Stop it!" Christopher cried, running over to Barbossa and hitting him in the leg (being all he could really reach). Barbossa shoved Christopher away and he fell over, hitting his head on the railing of the ship.

"Christopher!" she screamed, and ran to him. She picked him up and backed into a corner. She looked up at Barbossa with fury in her eyes. "Leave him out of this. You will _not_ hurt him again or I will rip your throat out with my bare hands, I swear it." Celeste warned venomously.

"I am terrified." Barbossa stated sarcastically. "Now, I'm not finished, get back here."

"Stay here, Christopher." Celeste said, setting him down.

"Mummy…" Christopher whimpered.

"I'll be fine." she assured and walked up to Barbossa. He threw a punch at her, but she ducked. Just then, she gathered all the strength she could muster and elbowed him right in the groin. He yelled in pain and staggered back. She turned her nose up at him and went back to Christopher.

"Are you alright?" she asked. "Did they hurt you?"

Christopher shook his head. "I was with Pintel and Ragetti most of the time and they were actually nice when Barbossa wasn't around. …My head hurts, though."

Celeste hugged him and kissed his head. "Don't you worry, sweetheart, we can escape this. Daddy will be back in a few days and he will rescue us."

"That, Mrs. Sparrow," Barbossa began, recovering, "was not a fair shot."

"Pirates don't play fair, Barbossa." she replied bitterly.

"Ye wait until later, then, ye'll see what isn't fair." he told her. "Pintel, Ragetti, take them below."

Pintel and Ragetti went to them. Ragetti took Christopher from Celeste, much to Celeste's outrage. Pintel grabbed Celeste by the arms as she struggled for freedom. They took them below to where Christopher had been staying.

"Sorry about that, poppet." Pintel said to Celeste, releasing her, as Ragetti put Christopher down.

"Mr. Pintel, I will make you a deal." Celeste said. "…Barbossa… well, I'm sure you realize what he's planning to do to me, so… could you possibly create some kind of distraction or something that could hold him off for a while? I will pay you fifty gold coins if you do this." Pintel considered this. "Please have some mercy… Haven't you ever had someone you cared to protect?"

"…Yeah, I was in love once." Pintel said. "She was killed while I was at sea…"

"Prevent something like that from happening again, then." she pressed. "And Mr. Ragetti, if you help him, I will pay you fifty gold coins as well."

"Fifty?" Ragetti asked. "Well, sure, I'll help."

"Alright, it's a deal." Pintel stated.

"Good." Celeste sighed in relief. "Basically, I'll scream when I need the distraction, alright?"

They nodded in agreement. She had an alliance a loophole. Thank goodness…

That night, Barbossa had taken Celeste to his room, when Christopher started yelling for Celeste and Jack.

"He's having a nightmare…" Celeste said. "Please let me go to him. _Please_."

"Well… if he's goin' to keep screamin' like that, then fine, but I'm not lettin' ye out of my sight." Barbossa told her. "I don't trust ye as far as I can throw ye."

"Fine." Celeste agreed. Barbossa unlocked the door and she ran out, to Christopher's room. She went to his side.

"Mummy!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms around her neck. She hugged him.

"It's alright." she comforted, patting his back. "Did you have a nightmare?" He nodded. "Tell me about it you'll feel better."

"Well… Daddy never came back for us…" Christopher told her. "And we had to stay here forever…"

"That's not going to happen, sweetheart." she assured. "It takes some time to get from here to Tortuga, and he's going as fast as he can." Barbossa watched this sight, leaning up against the door frame. How much they cared about this kid… he had the perfect hostage. "Now, you go back to sleep, alright? Everything is going to be fine." She tucked Christopher in and kissed his forehead. To help him sleep, she sang an old melody she had heard long ago. It had no words, just a soothing tune. After she was sure he was asleep, she got up and left the room quietly. Barbossa followed.

"Ye have a beautiful voice, Mrs. Sparrow, perhaps I'll have ye sing for me sometime." he said. She didn't reply. They returned to Barbossa's room. "I seem to have forgotten yer name, missy, what was it again? I feel awfully formal callin' ye  
Mrs. Sparrow."

"Mrs. Sparrow is fine." she replied bitterly. "It's like a constant reminder to you that whatever you do to me, my husband will kill you slowly and painfully."

"I'll keep that in mind." he replied offhandedly as he took some rope from a drawer in the corner of the room. He went back to Celeste. "Now, ye realize that yer goin' to have to cooperate with me if ye want yer safety guaranteed to ye."

"Guaranteed." she snorted. "Please. The moment I feel safe on this ship is the moment you become even remotely tolerable. So, never."

"Such an attitude." he said incredulously. "So cheeky. Well, I can change that."

"Oh, can you?" she asked patronizingly.

"Let's put it this way, ye want the whelp to be safe, don't ye?"

"Don't call him that he has a name, you know." she snapped.

"I could call him worse things than whelp." he stated. "Like I could call ye worse things than Mrs. Sparrow, bitch." She scowled at him. "Anyway, as I was sayin' before I was so_ rudely_ interrupted… if ye want the whelp's safety, yer really goin' to have to be a little nicer and a lot more cooperative."

"The nice part is quite a long shot." she said sarcastically. "I can't guarantee that one."

"All I want from ye is a good time ye know that." he told her. "It's just that simple. I get what I want, the whelp stays safe… _savvy_?" he asked, mocking Jack. Suddenly, Celeste slapped him hard in the face. He rubbed his jaw and looked at her with anger. "Ye know," he said in a calm voice, hiding his anger, "I'd like to say that I have a fair government on my ship: an eye for an eye. But unfortunately, I can't. It's an eye for two eyes here." He backhanded her twice in the face. "Cooperation is all I ask for." He shoved her over backwards onto his bed and sat on top of her. "Lesson one: give me yer hands." She looked at him with contempt, but held her hands up. "Good. Was that so hard?" She didn't reply. He used the rope to bind her hands together. He then tied her hands to the headboard which was several large wooden slabs. "Lesson two: keep quiet." He waited for a moment, staring at her. "There. Simple. See? No struggle, no pain. Easy."

"You're going to die." she stated angrily.

"Someday we all are, missy." he replied.

"But we're not all going to burn in hell, now, are we?"

"Ye see, there's that cheekiness again." he said. "Ye got to stop that."

"I'll stop when I decide to, thank you very much."

"Ye might be pretty sorry for that. …So, honestly, what shall I call ye? I grow weary of callin' ye Mrs. Sparrow."

"I said Mrs. Sparrow is fine." she said through gritted teeth.

"Hey, I'm just tryin' to help ye stall here." he told her. "Ye _are_ stallin', ye realize."

"I'm not stalling." she stated indifferently, refusing to look him in the eye.

"Of course ye are unless ye _want_ me to do what I'm goin' to do." he said. "Though, I can understand. Jack didn't seem like he was doin' much satisfyin'."

"_That_ is _none_ of your business." she stated.

"Don't ye hate it when I'm right?" he replied pompously.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." she quipped. She _was_ stalling. She had to buy more time. "Besides, from what I experienced when you possessed Jack…" she laughed. "It was over in ten minutes. Please. The _worst _experience I've had with Jack lasted as short as two and a half hours."

"Oh, and ye were the best in show I don't think so."

"Because I knew it wasn't him." she told him. "If you could hear some of the sounds _he_ makes, I'd have to say I must be pretty good. And we all know Jack has had his… experiences countless experiences. He's really done quite a lot… But I've got to say, I must be doing a fairly good job. And honestly, I knew it wasn't him the other night. _He_ isn't that _bad_ at it."

He smirked at her. "And again, the attitude. That'll stop." He kissed her, but she kept her mouth clamped shut. He backhanded her in the face. "Do ye know what 'cooperate' means?"

"Hmm, not that I can recall." she replied sharply.

"This attitude does not go unpunished." he said, irritated, and backhanded her in the face again. Just as she yelled in pain, he kissed her again. She struggled to get free, but he held her head in place. Finally, after what felt like eternal hell, it ended.

"Blech! Ptoo! Bleh!" Celeste spat, spitting the Barbossa-taste out of her mouth. "Pleh! Blarg! Uck!"

"Ye really have to cut the attitude." he said.

"No, that one wasn't attitude, it was true expression of the senses." she told him.

"Now, _that_ was attitude."

"Well, aren't we brilliant?" Celeste replied sarcastically and he backhanded her again.

"Yer goin' to shut up for good now or else I'll gag ye yer choice." he told her. She shut her mouth. She couldn't be gagged she was going to have to yell in a few minutes. The longer she stalled, the less likely it was that he would just come back after taking care of the distraction and continue what he was doing. "So? Ye goin' to shut up?" She nodded. "Good." He slipped a hand under the skirt of her dress and ran a hand up her leg. She wanted to yell so badly, but now was not the time. Just a few more moments… Finally, he squeezed her chest and she couldn't take it anymore. She was going to yell now no matter what.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"What on earth did ye do that for?" he asked. "I thought ye were goin' to be quiet." She didn't make a sound. "Ye really are odd, ye know that?"

A few minutes later, after he'd almost gotten her dress off, Pintel burst into the room.

"Go away, go away, go away." Barbossa ordered, not even looking up.

"Captain, half the galley's on fire!" Pintel exclaimed.

"WHAT!" Barbossa cried, looking up. "WELL, PUT IT OUT, YE IDIOT!"

"We can't put it out ourselves! We need help!" Pintel yelled urgently.

"Damn it!" Barbossa exclaimed, jumping up. He and Pintel dashed out of the room.

After she was sure they were gone, she decided to get out of this bind. She couldn't escape the ropes on her hands, unfortunately, and was running out of ideas, when one hit her.

"CHRISTOPHER!" she screamed, and a few moments later, Christopher came running in. Luckily Barbossa had left the door open, otherwise, he might not have found her for a while so many doors! "Christopher, come here please, help Mummy." He went to her, climbed up onto the bed and tried to untie the knot.

"Mummy, I can't do it it's too tight." he said, starting to panic.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, it'll be fine." she assured. "He left his knife on the dresser over there. Get that and cut the rope." He nodded and obeyed. He did his best to hack through the rope and finally did. She threw the rope remnants aside and fixed her dress (being messed up by Barbossa). "Thank you, Christopher."

"You're welcome, Mummy." he replied. "Did Barbossa do this?"

"Yes, but don't you worry when Daddy gets back, he's going to kill Barbossa." Celeste assured. "Come on, let's go to your room I don't want to be here when Barbossa returns." Christopher nodded and they went to his room. They sat down on the bed.

Christopher looked up at Celeste. "I don't like it here, Mummy, I want to go home." he told her sadly.

"So do I, baby." she replied. "Daddy will be back in a few days and we can go home." She sighed and lied down. Christopher cuddled next to her and she put her arms around him. "You know we've been searching hard for you, Christopher… we tried our hardest to find you… I just want you to know that we never wanted any of this to happen… Daddy and I would both give our lives for you. We love you so much."

"I know, Mummy." he replied. "I love you, too."

She smiled, fighting off tears. "Let's get some sleep that's about the best thing we can do here." Christopher nodded and they drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Celeste and Christopher woke up to Barbossa's harsh voice.

"Up, Sparrows; breakfast." he ordered. "I'm in a foul mood do not give me cause to get angry." He left the room. Celeste and Christopher got up and stretched tiredly. She yawned.

"Well, come on, sweetheart, let's get breakfast, then." she said, taking his hand. He nodded and they went down to the dining hall.

They sat down at the end of a table where food had been put out for them. Celeste pushed her plate aside and pulled Christopher's in front of her. She picked up a knife and started cutting his food for him, just as she had at home.

"Here, darling." she said and replaced his plate in front of him. She didn't feel too hungry her nerves were still bothering her. She placed a piece of ham in her mouth and chewed it up slowly. She was having trouble eating, though… she felt strange. She looked up at the crew and they were all staring at her. That's what it was. She couldn't eat when people stared at her. She looked back down at her food and tried to ignore them, but it didn't work. She took a drink of water and looked at the staring crew again. She began to grow irritated. "What?" she asked bitterly. The crew didn't respond. Some looked away or back to their food, but soon resolved to staring at her again. "Would you mind?" she asked, irritated, and tried to ignore them again. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "WOULD YOU QUIT STARING AT ME!" she yelled.

"Behave, Mrs. Sparrow." Barbossa ordered.

"I will if they do." Celeste replied, annoyed. She couldn't eat. Not with people staring at her like that. She poked at her food and drank her water until Christopher finished eating. "You finished?" she asked inquiringly. He nodded. "Alright, let's go, then." She didn't want to stay in that horrible room any longer than she had to, so she picked Christopher up and hurried out.

A few hours later, Barbossa entered Christopher's room where Celeste was residing. She was holding Christopher in her lap and telling him a story.

"Oh, Mrs. Sparrow." he called mockingly in a singsong voice.

"Wait." Celeste ordered Barbossa, not even looking up. She continued her story to Christopher. "And he said he'd made a raft using sea turtles to get off the island." Celeste told Christopher.

"Sea turtles?" Christopher asked. "But… that doesn't make any sense…"

"Exactly." she said. "Which is why you should never lie about anything who believes a story like that? Can you see Daddy sailing across the ocean on a bunch of sea turtles?" They laughed. She hugged him.

"Every word that comes out of Jack's mouth is a lie." Barbossa stated.

"That's not true!" Celeste objected. "He just made up a story like that because he wanted to seem more amazing than he was. Even without the sea turtles, he's still amazing."

"I'll bet." Barbossa said sarcastically.

She looked up at him and sighed in annoyance. "Don't you have better things to do than to bother us?"

"No, you see, that's my problem I've got _no one_ at all to do." he replied with a smirk. She scoffed at him.

"Mummy," Christopher said, tugging on her dress to get her attention she looked down at him inquiringly, "will you tell me the story about how Daddy became a chief?"

"She can't." Barbossa injected. "She's comin' me with I'm gettin' rather bored."

"Well, why don't you read a nice book, then?" Celeste suggested patronizingly. "Maybe then you'd gain a little more intelligence right along with that entertainment."

He curled his lip at her in annoyance. "Come on, Mrs. Sparrow, come with me."

Christopher looked up at Celeste. "Why do you have to go, Mummy?" he asked sadly.

Barbossa moved closer to them. "Because," he explained in a fake-patient voice, "yer Mummy is a"

"Shut your mouth, Barbossa." Celeste ordered venomously. He laughed. She looked down at Christopher. "Because Barbossa is a mean, terrible, old man who delights in annoying people. Don't worry about me." Barbossa just laughed at this accusation. "And I'll tell you that story about Daddy later." Celeste kissed Christopher's head and stood up.

"Bye, Mummy." Christopher bid.

She smiled. "Bye, baby." She followed Barbossa out into the hall.

"Ye know, as much as I'd like some entertainment right now, Mrs. Sparrow, I've got bigger fish to fry, unfortunately." he told her. "Follow me." They went down to the galley. "Now, I have decided that to keep ye busy and doin' somethin' productive, ye should cook dinner for us."

"What!" she exclaimed.

"Ye cook for the brat, don't ye?" he asked.

"Don't call him that." Celeste ordered.

"Ye know, if I really cared at all, I might say 'pardon me,' but alas, I really don't." he said sarcastically. "Now, it's not that hard, is it?"

"Yes! I've never cooked for this many people before!" she persisted.

"And if ye fail to make the food absolutely delicious, ye'll be punished."

"You crazy old coot!" Celeste cried.

"I'm not that old, Mrs. Sparrow."

"Could've fooled me." she said flatly. "But… look, I can't possibly"

"The galley is sort of half burned thanks to someone I have yet to discover," Barbossa told her, ignoring her completely, "but ye should do fine."

"No no, I should not do fine!" she exclaimed. "It will take me all day to fix this much food!" She stopped. Why did she say that? Now he would make her do it for sure.

"As long as it gets done."

"Well, it won't be my fault if it turns out as rotten as your heart." she said.

"Why must ye be so rude, Mrs. Sparrow?"

"Just returning the favor, Captain Barbossa." she replied, faking a sweet tone. She sighed in annoyance. "Come on, don't make me do this you'll only be sorry for it."

"Oh, I really don't think so." he said and paced over to a counter. He picked up a chef's knife and went back to Celeste. "Make this good or ye'll regret not doin' so." He pulled down the neck of her dress, revealing her shoulder, and pressed the knife blade to her skin. "Ye don't want to see my anger, do ye?" She just glared at him. He ran the blade across her skin and cut her shoulder. She flinched, but tried not to show much pain. "Now, get to it." He turned his back to her. "Pintel, Ragetti!" he called, and tossed the knife back onto the counter. Shortly after, Pintel and Ragetti arrived.

"Yes, Cap'n?" Pintel asked.

"Pintel, watch Mrs. Sparrow here." Barbossa ordered. "Make sure she doesn't do anythin' stupid. Difficult task, I know." Celeste curled her lip at him in annoyance. He turned to Ragetti. "Ragetti, go watch the whelp." Ragetti nodded and left, Barbossa left as well.

"How can you stand that monster?" Celeste asked Pintel, grabbing a cloth and placing it on her wound.

He shrugged. "He pays us." She sighed. "Er, by the way…" he glanced around to make sure no one was around, "this morning at breakfast…"

"Yes, might I ask you _why on earth_ everyone was staring at me?" she asked, finishing with her wound and starting to get out food and kitchen utensils.

"Well, I'm _really _going to have to make a distraction to get you out of this one." he said.

She looked at him confusedly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it'll take Jack four days to get to Tortuga and back." he explained. "Well, it's been one day. You have two more nights to spend here. Er… well, Barbossa has been looking for Jack for quite a long time most of the crew hasn't had much of a chance to go into town and… find any pleasurable company…"

"Oh, no…" Celeste groaned.

"I heard that on your last night here, Barbossa was just going to… give you to the crew, basically."

"Oh, my goodness, you _have_ to make sure that doesn't go through." Celeste pressed desperately. "That's absolutely disgusting."

"I'll do what I can…" Pintel said doubtfully.

Celeste spent most of the day preparing Barbossa's stupid dinner, which, luckily, they were satisfied with. That night, another distraction was made and Celeste escaped once more. Just one more night to go…

The next day, Celeste got incredibly angry at Barbossa and challenged him to a duel. He laughed at her, but accepted. He returned her swords to her and they went up on deck to fight.

"Don't cry when I beat ye." Barbossa said mockingly.

"I could say the same to you." Celeste replied. She swiped at him with one of her swords, but he dodged. Just then, Christopher had come up on deck and was alarmed at this sight.

"Mummy!" Christohper yelled, starting towards her.

"Stay where you are, Christopher!" she ordered, her concentration on the fight.

"But"

"Will someone shut the whelp up?" Barbossa asked, annoyed, still fencing with Celeste. "Afterall, we have ye, Mrs. Sparrow. That's enough for Jack to care about. We could do away with the whelp altogether."

Big mistake.

Celeste scowled, a fire igniting in her eyes and increased the speed of her sword strikes. He almost started to panic she was really quick. Finally, she forced him to back into the mast by fencing him over, and she disarmed him. She held one of her swords to his throat. "You so much as _touch_ my son and you will regret it. Your fate will be much worse than just being a eunuch."

"And so why don't ye just kill me now?" Barbossa asked, hiding his shock of defeat.

"Because I don't trust your crew any more than I trust you." Celeste replied. "But at least you have reason to keep us alive and give us back to Jack bargaining tools or not. Someday, when you're not such a coward, and don't have the upper hand in the situation, I'll fight you again, and perhaps I'll really kill you next time. Though, I already promised Jack the honor."

"Ye think it's so easy, Mrs. Sparrow." Barbossa said. "But ye don't know what ye'll be goin' up against. Neither ye nor Jack will be able to beat me the next time ye face me. And next time, I will kill yer beloved husband and come after ye. Of course, I have far too much use for ye, so ye'll be stayin' alive. But I'll kill all of yer friends on the Black Pearl and ye can bet yer life I'll kill both of yer children."

"Just for_ saying_ that, you're getting no mercy from me or Jack whoever gets the treat of slaughtering you brutally."

Barbossa scoffed, wondering when Celeste was going to move the sword away from his throat. "Jack's never killed anythin' in his life, the coward."

"That's _not_ true." Celeste stated. "I know for a fact that even before he met me, he'd done his share of killing."

"Not much. Only when they attacked. He had too much mercy to be a pirate I call it cowardice."

"And I call you stupid." Celeste quipped. "And, he has killed before. Countless evil minions of Bartholomeu Santara and Thomas Black. He also helped kill Santara. He did kill Black. You wouldn't like the way he killed Black you certainly wouldn't want it done to you."

"Oh?" Barbossa asked inquiringly. "And how did he kill him? By drowning him with rum?"

"No." Celeste replied, annoyed. "Besides, Jack doesn't drink anymore. Anyway, no. He punctured Black's jugular vein. But it wasn't quick. It took Black a solid few minutes to bleed to death."

"That's absolutely wonderful." he said. "Congratulate Jack for me. What do ye mean he doesn't drink anymore? He's the best drinker in the Caribbean can hold more liquor than any other man around."

"He discovered that drinking will only ultimately kill him."

"If I don't get to him first."

Celeste made a shallow cut on Barbossa's throat. "That will be a lot worse next time."

Barbossa merely laughed at her. "Ye'll pay later, wench, believe me. And leave those swords here, by the way."

She scowled at him and dropped her swords on the deck. She walked over to Christopher and picked him up. "Sorry you had to see that, sweetheart."

That night, Celeste regretted what was coming. Barbossa had locked her in his room with Pintel to guard her.

"Bad news, Mrs. Sparrow." Pintel said regretfully. "I couldn't muster a distraction tonight…"

"No!" Celeste cried. "No! No, you have to think of something! This is a terrible situation! You can't let them do this!"

"There's nothing I can do…"

"Would you let this happen to your mother?" Celeste asked. "Honestly?"

"Well… no… but…"

"Please… you have to do something." Celeste pressed desperately.

"…I'm sorry, it's beyond me now. Besides, Barbossa suspects something. If he discovers that I was the one who caused those disasters… he'd kill me for sure."

Celeste worriedly paced to the side of the room, looking out the window. She racked her brain for an idea of a diversion, but could think of nothing. Shortly after this, Barbossa and much of the crew entered the room.

"Well, Mrs. Sparrow, I must say that I regret not bein' able to get a piece of ye, but… after I kill Jack, ye'll be mine to do with whatever I want." Barbossa said. "So tonight, I give ye to my faithful crew. Now, don't struggle like before, there's no escape this time."

'Oh, please don't let this happen…' Celeste prayed.

Barbossa grabbed Celeste by the arm and threw her onto the bed.

"You will all be _terribly_ sorry for this." Celeste warned. The crew all laughed at her and one of them climbed on top of her. "AHHHHH!" she screamed, thrashing about, trying to escape. The crewmember started to unlace the front of her dress as the others moved in for a chance to get in on the groping. Just then, a cannonball broke through the window and hit the evil crewmember, sending him flying across the room. The others halted, shocked.

"Jack." Celeste sighed, smiling, and looking out the window. "Oh, thank you, God…"

Barbossa, who had taken a seat in the corner of the room, jumped up in surprise. "Damn it!" he yelled. "Get up on deck, ye bloomin' cockroaches! Don't let them fire anymore! Tell Jack his wench and whelp will be up in a minute! Off with ye!" The crew wasted no time and belted out of the room and up on deck. Celeste jumped up and started to run as well, but Barbossa blocked her way. "This isn't the end, Mrs. Sparrow. I _will_ kill yer husband and yer friends and yer children, and ye'll be mine for the rest of yer days."

"Only in hell, Captain Barbossa." Celeste snarled. Barbossa glared at her, turned, and left.

"Get the whelp and hurry up!" he called to her.

She got her swords, pistol, and knife that had been confiscated earlier and were being kept in Barbossa's room, and put them back where they belonged. She ran out to Christopher's room.

"Mummy, what was that loud sound?" Christopher asked curiously.

"Christopher, darling, Daddy's back already!" she exclaimed happily. "Come on, let's hurry to meet him!" Christopher's eyes lit up and he ran to Celeste who picked him up and carried him up on deck.

"I got your trash, Barbossa!" Jack yelled angrily. He sounded stressed and tired.

"Good Sparrow! Good boy!" Barbossa replied mockingly. "Give me my stone and I'll give ye yer family!"

"I don' trust you! Let Celeste and Christopher come aboard first!" Jack yelled. They'd set the gangplank so that it connected the two ships' railings and Celeste and Christopher could walk across.

"I don't trust ye either, Jack!" Barbossa yelled back. "I don't want yer wench or yer whelp I want the stone! I've got better things to take care of than them! Throw me the stone and I'll let them go!"

Jack sighed. He decided that was what had to be done. "Fine!"

"Wait!" Barbossa halted. "Let me say my goodbyes first!" Jack glared at him. Barbossa paced over to Celeste. "Put that down when will ye learn?" Celeste scowled, but set Christopher down he held onto her leg timidly. "Remember my promise. I'll kill them."

"You'd be surprised what the future brings, Barbossa." Celeste replied bitterly.

Barbossa laughed. "I'll be seeing _you _again, Mrs. Sparrow." he said, and ran his tongue over her ear. She grimaced and cleaned her ear off with her sleeve. "But I must give a parting gift. After I get my stone." He looked at Jack. "Now, Jack!" Jack tossed him the stone and he caught it. He examined it and smiled. "It's the right thing, alright. Give yer husband my regards. I also want ye to tell him that if he wants to stop my planI realize ye know nothin' of it he's goin' to have to come to Isla de Ensayas to stop me. I hear ye all fight against the bad pirates now, aye? Well, I'll give ye a fair chance. Tell him that. Oh, my gift, right." He pulled out his sword, shoved Celeste forward (she flew and fell on her face; Christopher had to let go of her), and cut a deep, gash several inches long on the back of Christopher's shoulder. Christopher screamed in pain and Celeste jumped up.

"YOU BASTARD!" Celeste screamed. "Don't _ever _say that word, Christopher." she added quickly to Christopher. "Barbossa, you will _pay_ for that!" She lunged forward and wrapped her hands around his neck, trying to choke him. Several crewmembers started over, but Barbossa gestured for them to stop he knew how this situation would end.

"Mummy!" Christopher screamed, crying in pain. Jack couldn't really see what was happening and Barbossa's crew was blocking his passage across the gangplank. Celeste bit her lip, wanting so badly to kill Barbossa then and there, but Christopher needed her… She let go of Barbossa's neck and ran to Christopher.

"We are going to kill you, Barbossa!" Celeste screamed, picking Christopher up. "You've just sealed your fate!"

"I'm just terrified." Barbossa stated sarcastically.

Celeste hurried carefully across the gangplank and ran to Jack.

"What 'appened?" Jack asked.

"This!" Celeste cried, showing Jack Christopher's wounds.

"Oh, I'm going over there to kill 'im!" Jack roared, starting to run, but Celeste stopped him.

"Jack, no! We need to address this wound!" she exclaimed. Jack saw her reasoning and they hurried downstairs. Celeste went to her and Jack's room while Jack went to the cargo hold to get bandages and other things they might need.

Celeste held a crying Christopher in her lap, trying to comfort him, sitting on the bed. She was fuming with anger, thinking about Barbossa and the pain he was causing her son. Jack returned and removed Christopher's shirt to address the wound. Christopher continued crying in pain. Jack looked very worried.

"What?" Celeste mouthed to him.

"We might need to stitch it up." Jack mouthed back. Celeste sighed and bit her lip in worry. As Jack cleaned the wound, he realized that that was what had to be done. He looked up at Celeste and nodded sadly. Her heart sunk and she looked devastated. She cleared her expression and looked at Christopher.

"Christopher, sweetheart," Celeste started softly and comfortingly, "you've got a really deep cut… and we can't just leave it like it is… We have to… sew it up…"

"Wh-what?" Christopher asked, sniffling.

Jack looked up at him. "Son, the cut is so deep that if we don' sew it up, you're goin' to lose a lot of blood an' tha's bad…"

"Will it hurt?" Christopher asked, crying. Jack and Celeste exchanged worried glances. They had to tell him the truth they couldn't lie to their child. Jack nodded sadly and Christopher cried more, throwing his arms around Celeste's neck.

"Oh, darling, it has to be done." Celeste reasoned, hugging him. "It happened to both Mummy and Daddy once… If it hadn't been taken care of, we probably wouldn't even be here now…" Jack readied a needle and thread, incredibly angry at Barbossa. Celeste still held Christopher, patting the back of his head comfortingly. "It's alright, sweetheart, Daddy knows what he's doing."

They tried to get him to lie down so Jack could sew it up easier, but trying to get an injured child away from their mother is like trying to get a pirate away from rum; it was possible, but difficult and unlikely. So, they decided that he could just sit on Celeste's lap and Jack would have to sit on his knees in front of them to stitch up the wound.

Jack started to sew up the wound and Christopher screamed in pain. Tears were rolling down Celeste's cheeks and Jack's eyes were stinging from holding tears back. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Jack finished the stitches and pressed a cloth to the wound.

"Finished." Jack said. "Good job, son. You did great. You alrigh'?" Christopher sniffled and nodded. "That's my boy." He stood up and kissed Christopher's head.

"You were so brave, darling." Celeste told him, hugging him. "Just as brave as Daddy."

"Well, I'd like to say I'm that brave, but now I got some competition." Jack said, trying to cheer Christopher up a little. He bandaged Christopher's shoulder and sat down on the bed, next to them. Celeste held Christopher until he overcame his immediate pain, for the most part. Jack pulled Christopher into his lap and hugged him. "I missed you a lot, mate." Jack said. Celeste knew Jack like the back of her hand; his voice sounded just like it did whenever he struggled to hold back tears.

"I missed you, too, Daddy." Christopher replied, hugging Jack back. Jack asked Christopher all the same things Celeste did when she reunited with Christopher and Christopher said the same things he said to Celeste, becoming as bored of answering the same questions as any child being interrogated by a worried parent.

After a rather touching reunion, Celeste and Jack put Christopher to bed and went back to their room.

"Well, er, in all the commotion, I didn't get the chance to say hello to you." Celeste told Jack. "So, er, he" He didn't give her the chance to finish, he kissed her passionately.

"Do you have any idea 'ow worried I was about you an' Christopher?" Jack asked, holding her tightly. "I could 'ardly sleep at all."

"You do look tired, sweetheart." Celeste said. "But we're back now, so you can relax."

Jack sighed. "For tonight, anyway." He knew it wasn't over. He knew Barbossa was planning something big and they had to stop it. Celeste told him about Barobssa's instructions to go to Isla de Ensayas. Suddenly, Celeste gasped and broke away from Jack's grasp. She ran over to Jocelyn's crib and picked her up.

"Ohh, Jocelyn, my little girl, I missed you so much!" Celeste exclaimed. Jocelyn looked up at Celeste and realized it was her.

"Mahh!" Jocelyn cried happily. Jack stood at Celeste's side and looked at Jocelyn.

"She missed you a lot, Celeste." Jack told her. "The first nigh' you were gone, it took me hours to get her to stop cryin' for you."

"Ohh, I missed you, too, my darling." Celeste said, rocking Jocelyn in her arms. After a little while, Celeste put Jocelyn to bed and got ready for bed herself; she wore her blue, sleeveless nightgown. She climbed into bed with Jack and he put his arms around her.

She sighed. "Oh, Jack, how did you manage to have the _perfect_ timing?"

"Glad I did, Princess." he replied. Suddenly, his brow furrowed he noticed the cut on her arm that Barbossa had given her the day before. "Did 'e do this to you?" She nodded. "I'm sure this is the least of what 'e did… What else did 'e do?"

Celeste explained all about everything Barbossa had done. From the constant hitting to the attempted rape and everything else he did.

"I'm goin' to kill 'im, Celeste, I promise you." Jack growled.

"What he did to me doesn't matter." Celeste said. "The fact that he kidnapped Christopher he must've been scared to death, our poor baby and then slashed his shoulder open… A three year old! Of any material thing I've ever wanted… what I want most right now… is Barbossa's head."

"Your wish is my command, baby." he replied, and kissed her. "Tomorrow, I'll tell the crew to set a course for Isla de Ensayas."

"Thank you." she said, and snuggled up to him. "I missed you a lot… And I'm still sorry for acting so distantly and distrusting to you before I left…"

"Oh, sweetheart, it's alrigh'." he told her. "I don' blame you at all." She hugged him tightly and pulled him on top of her.

She sighed. "Jack, there were moments when I honestly thought I wasn't going to survive… So many times, it seemed like Barbossa was just going to kill me… I was so afraid that I wasn't going to see you again… or hear you again or feel you again…"

"Oh, Princess…"

"I love you so much, Jack." she told him. "I can't say it enough… I couldn't possibly say it enough to convey what I feel…" He looked at her caringly. He didn't even have to say anything she knew what he was thinking. "And when I thought about not surviving… I would think about you and feel so much better. Just… everything… Your gentle touch… the sound of your voice… the way my lips feel on your skin… Just everything…" He kissed her. She sighed and ran her fingers across his lips. "And your lips are so soft and warm…" She smiled. "I'm so completely addicted to you, Jack… But it's a good addiction."

Jack smiled. "Sweetheart, I've been addicted to you since the moment I saw you. An' I never stop bein' thrilled by every moment I spend with you…" He kissed her neck. "You never cease to enchant me." Celeste smiled and he kissed her, placing his hands in hers. He kissed her neck again several times and kissed her, the moment deepening with every sweet second that passed.

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Yay for a nice romantic scene! Doesn't it just make you le sigh Yay! Anyway, I realize that chapter was long, but thanks for sticking with me! All of you whose fanfics I haven't read yet, (you know who you are) I WILL read them and review each chappy! I promise! I just don't have time cuz of school right now! I'll find time, tho! I promise! Got to graduate this year, you know! Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

PLEASE REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4: Trials in Many Forms

Alright! New chapter! Hope you enjoy it! Thanks again to Johnny'shumiliatedgrape and iliveinmiddleearth! I LOVE YOU GUYS!

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Chapter 4: Trials in Many Forms

The next day, they set their course for Isla de Ensayas. Commodore Valentine was opposed to it, but Jack was determined to wreak revenge on Barbossa, and it _was _Jack's ship, after all. According to Anamaria, they would reach the island in only a day. Jack and Celeste spent most of the day with Christopher and Jocelyn they had a wonderful day, but knew what was coming on the morrow… During dinner, they talked about the possibility of more children on the Pearl. Jack and Celeste certainly wouldn't mind the idea. They each agreed they wanted many more.

That night, Celeste and Jack got into bed; Celeste was worried about facing Barbossa. Just as she was about to ask Jack if he was sure he knew how to beat Barbossa, he climbed on top of her and kissed her.

"Jack, shouldn't we be saving our energy for tomorrow?" Celeste asked disapprovingly.

"If we die tomorrow, we should be 'appy." he told her, kissing her neck.

"Jack!" she laughed. "Now, come on, we should get some sleep."

"We _will_ get _some_ sleep." he reasoned, smirking. "Come on, love…"

She laughed and put her arms around his neck. She grabbed onto his shirt and pulled it halfway off she stopped. She'd frozen.

"I 'ate to tell you this, sweetheart, but I'm sort of stuck…" he told her, his arms still over his head, caught in the shirt. "We've never tried it this way before, but I think it might work better if I can see you… an' move me arms." She didn't say anything she didn't move. He yanked his shirt off himself and looked at her. She started breathing very quickly. "'ey, love, we 'aven' started yet." he said with a smirk. She looked horrified. She wasn't looking at him it was like she was looking at something that wasn't there. His brow furrowed. "Darling, what's wrong!"

"B-Barbossa…" Celeste gasped. "He's somehow showing me all these terrible images in my head! You Christopher Jocelyn the crew… all dead!"

"Oh, goodness…" Jack muttered. He started to panic he had _no_ idea what to do.

"Cover my mouth." she said.

"What?"

"Cover my mouth this is horrifying I'm going to scream!" she exclaimed. He did as she said and covered her mouth. She screamed into his hand, which stopped much of the noise, but didn't help her much.

"Oh… what stopped it last time…?" Jack mumbled, thinking. After a moment, he remembered. Love… "Christopher 'e'll be four in three months, an' Jocelyn she'll be one in six months… Think about them, sweetheart. Think about _us_. Don' think about anythin' else!" She screamed into his hand again, horrified. "Princess, look at _me_!" She tried her best, but the images kept racing in her brain. He grabbed onto her shoulders and shook them, but it didn't do any good, and he had uncovered her mouth.

"AHHHHHHHH!" she screamed. He quickly replaced his hand, but just then, Jocelyn started crying. Celeste continued breathing quickly, but it seemed she was starting to recover… After a few moments, the images completely wore off and Jack removed his hand from her face. "They're gone… Oh, Jack…" She hugged him. "Someone will be worried I know Christopher will be. Please wait outside the door for anyone who comes to check on us."

"Sure, love." he said and kissed her. He got up and left the room while Celeste got up and went to Jocelyn. She picked her up and comforted her until she stopped crying. Jocelyn had been very startled by the loud scream, so it took a little while for her to be calmed down.

Jack was soon greeted by worried crewmembers and he explained what had happened. After he'd spoken to them, Celeste's prediction had come true. Christopher had left his room and come to see what was wrong.

"What happened?" Christopher asked Jack, who knelt down next to him.

"Oh, nothin', son, Mummy jus' 'ad a nightmare tha's all." Jack replied.

"Oh. Is she alright?" Christopher asked.

"Aye, she's fine don' worry, mate." Jack told him.

"Okay, Daddy."

"You want me to tuck you in again?" Jack asked and Christopher nodded. Jack picked him up and carried him back to his room and tucked him in. "Night, mate." he bid and kissed his head.

"Goodnight, Daddy." Christopher replied, grabbing Blackbeard the bear.

Jack returned to his room just as Celeste was putting Jocelyn to bed.

"Sorry about that." Celeste told him quietly, not wanting to disturb Jocelyn. "I didn't mean to scream…"

"It's not your fault, Princess." Jack said as they got into bed. "Don' worry Barbossa will be dead tomorrow."

"Good." Celeste replied, anger rushing inside her. He kept intruding on their lives. That evil knave. She wondered how much longer the images would've gone on if Jocelyn hadn't cried. It was, after all, her child's voice that had pulled her out of the bombardment of images.

The next day, they arrived on the island. Jack and Celeste went ashore along with Commodore Valentine, who insisted on going with them. They followed a trail that led to a cave which they entered. Just inside the cave was Barbossa and much of his crew waiting with pistols aimed at them, ready for their arrival. They'd obviously had a lookout and had been alerted of their presence.

"Welcome, welcome." Barbossa greeted. "I just love this. You'll follow me no matter where I go, won't you?" He laughed. "Now, I heard about Mrs. Sparrow's little court case she's got to get back to town soon, doesn't she? Well, what a coincidence. I need more time to prepare."

"Prepare for what?" Commodore Valentine asked.

"None of yer business a little surprise for the Caribbean." Barbossa replied. "Here's a free hint. I need Jack's life for this ritual. But you can't hide from me because he's the only one that can stop me. You see, even if I don't get his life, I will still be extremely powerful this is such a great ritual I'm plannin'. Either way, ye don't have the option to hide."

"We don' intend to." Jack said. "We intend to kill you now."

"Oh, do you?" Barbossa asked. "Go ahead and try."

"My pleasure." Jack replied, brandishing his sword. Just then, someone came out of nowhere, ran up to Jack, and quickly slapped a small piece of paper on Jack's chest. The person darted away to Barbossa's side. It was the witchdoctor.

Jack looked down at his chest confusedly and made to pull the paper off. But just as he tried, the paper disappeared. It was like it had sunk into his skin. It had left an "X" the size of the paper on his skin.

"What the…? What on bloody earth was that?" he asked, oblivious.

"Just a little insurance." Barbossa said. He bellowed out an evil laugh. "Restrain the Commodore, please." he told the witchdoctor. The witchdoctor said a quiet spell and motioned with his staff for the Commodore to go to the wall. Suddenly, Commodore Valentine flew over to the wall and hit it hard. "Bushes!" Barbossa called. Four men dashed out of the bushes and restrained Jack. Jack fought hard, but there was nothing he could do against these huge, strong men. "As I said, I need time to prepare for all this. For insurance, I will stall a bit. Mrs. Sparrow is quite good at stallin', aren't ye?" he looked at her, smiling, and she glared. She started to unsheathe her swords, but Barbossa quickly looked at the witchdoctor. "Don't let her." The witchdoctor nodded and whispered a spell, waving his staff at her. Celeste pulled on her swords, but they didn't move; it was like they were stuck in the scabbards… "Let's make it a primitive fight, Mrs. Sparrow, huh? Just fists."

"She's a woman!" Commodore Valentine cried. "She can't possibly"

"She says she can hold her own against any man. She did a fair job of fightin' on my ship." Barbossa interrupted. Jack struggled to be free, but to no avail. Barbossa strode over to Celeste and put his fists up. She put hers up as well. And it began.

Celeste fought with Barbossa as best she could. It wasn't easy for Celeste to fight without weapons. She had hardly ever punched her enemies in the past it was always a swordfight. She dodged a punch and tried to hit him in the face, but he dodged it.

"Oh, this is fun." Barbossa said, tripping her and then hitting her in the back; she yelled. "But alas, I have places to be." He dodged a punch from Celeste. "I can't wait to cause ye Sparrows more pain I just love it. Anyway, I must sadly depart. As for my insurance, I'll just hit Mrs. Sparrow really hard." Jack struggled harder to get free and Celeste threw an unsuccessful punch at Barbossa. He snorted in amusement and hit her in the lower stomach with a ton of strength. Jack winced at the sight of the blow and Celeste's eyes widened in pain the scream had been knocked out of her. She clutched her stomach and fell to the ground out cold. "Oh, she doesn't look so good… Jack, ye'd best take her home now. Come back after Mrs. Sparrow's case whether she's dead or alive." He gestured to his crewmembers to release him and they obeyed. Commodore Valentine was released from the wall.

"Damn you, Barbossa!" Jack growled, running to Celeste. "You jus' wait."

Barbossa laughed and left them. Jack picked Celeste up and carried her back to the Pearl hurriedly, Commodore Valentine followed.

"Anamaria, 'elp." he said urgently as he boarded. She nodded and followed him to his room where he set Celeste on the bed (Commodore Valentine decided to just wait up on deck it wasn't really his place to follow). "Barbossa 'it 'er really really 'ard…"

"Alright, I'll see if there's anything wrong." Anamaria told him.

"Thanks, Anamaria." he replied. She nodded and he left the room.

A few minutes later, Anamaria emerged from the room and Jack, who had been pacing the whole time, hurried to her. It felt so familiar.

"Is she alrigh'!" he asked urgently.

"I'm not sure. Two things." she said. "I have to ask Gibbs something, first of all. Second… well, come here." She went to Celeste's side and pressed Jack's hand to Celeste's stomach "You know her better than I do does her stomach usually feel like that?" Jack's brow furrowed and he shook his head slowly. Anamaria sighed. "Alright, I'll be back in a minute." She left the room. Jack sat down next to Celeste and looked at her concernedly.

A few moments later, Christopher came in. "What's wrong with Mummy?" he asked.

"Er, I don' know yet." Jack replied blankly. "Anamaria will tell us in a little while."

Christopher climbed up onto the bed next to Celeste. He grabbed her hand and shook it. "Mummy. Mummy, wake up." Jack's heart was breaking piece by piece. Christopher looked over at Jack with a furrowed brow. "Why isn't Mummy waking up?"

Jack sighed. "I don' know, son." he said. "But she's fine don' worry about 'er. …Now, you go on back to your room, savvy?" Christopher nodded and left the room. After a few minutes, Anamaria returned.

"Jack… I, er, have some really… terrible news…" Anamaria said sadly.

"Oh, no…" he mumbled, heart sinking in worry. "Is she alrigh'!"

Anamaria started crying. What…? This never happened. She might've shown a tear or two once in a while, but… crying? This had to be something bad.

"Anamaria! What's wrong with 'er!" he pressed.

"And… and you guys were just just talking about having more children… y-yesterday…" Anamaria sobbed.

"…What…?" Jack asked emptily.

"Barbossa hit her too hard, Jack!" Anamaria sobbed, trying to calm down. "She… she can't… she…" she calmed herself down and sniffled. "She can't have any more children, Jack."

His heart sunk lower than it had sunk in a long time. Since… the last time Anamaria had to break horrible news to him… when Celeste had lost the baby four years earlier…

"I realize nothing I say is going to help, so I'm just going to leave you with her." Anamaria said. "But I really am sorry…" And she left.

Jack lied down on the bed next to Celeste, his heart feeling like it just got lanced. He placed a hand on his forehead and closed his eyes painfully. Just then, Celeste blinked her eyes open and looked at him. She attempted to shift towards him, but grabbed her stomach in pain. He looked over at her.

"Hi." she greeted. "Ugh, Barbossa's going to get it when we get back to him." He nodded. "What?" He just looked at her. She started to get worried. "What happened?" She attempted to sit up, but grabbed her stomach in pain once more. She looked down at her stomach and thought for a moment. She didn't feel very good… she felt… different… wrong… like something was very wrong… She looked up at Jack. She knew what was wrong. She could feel it she could tell by the look on his face. Her brow furrowed and she shook her head desperately. He nodded slowly and sadly. She closed her eyes as tears began to form in them. After a while of wordless grieving, Jack spoke up.

"Well… we 'ave Christopher an' Jocelyn. Tha's all that matters." he said.

She sighed and nodded, but was really brokenhearted inside. Jack felt the same way.

They sailed back to Port Royal, which took several days. During those days, nothing significant happened they were worried about everything. Besides being devastated by Celeste's injury, they were worried about defeating Barbossa and, more pressing, Celeste's court case. They arrived in town and were summoned to the court the next day…

As it were, they weren't sure how long the court session would be, so they had to bring Jocelyn with them. They were worried because there wasn't any evidence saying Celeste did do it, though, but there wasn't any that said she did. Problem was, this was a similar situation to John Ottoman's case. He was convicted and hung for the murder of Commodore Norrington, and was later proved innocent; by then, of course, he was already dead and nothing could be done.

Jack and Celeste sat down in the courtroom, waiting for someone to tell them where to sit or what to do. Jocelyn reached over and grabbed a piece of Jack's hair, clinging to it adamantly. A woman behind them tapped Celeste on the shoulder. She looked back at her.

"Oh, your child is so adorable!" the woman told her.

"Thank you." Celeste replied, smiling politely. Just then, the judge came in. The court system at this point in time and in this part of the world, was not as advanced as it could be, so it was not filled with so much tradition and formality. The judge had the word and his word was stone-set.

"Would Celeste Sparrow please come up to the chair in the front, please?" he inquired.

Celeste stood up, carrying Jocelyn, and sat down in the chair. The woman who had previously complimented her, looked shocked that _that_ was the woman who was being tried for attempted murder. Jocelyn was not very happy about having to be torn away from Jack's hair, so she started whimpering in protest. Celeste let Jocelyn rest on her shoulder, but this probably wasn't the best plan of action, seeing as how she could now see Jack. She reached out to Jack and continued whimpering, getting louder the longer Celeste didn't do anything about it. Celeste had considered letting Jack hold Jocelyn for a while, but she knew Jocelyn better than that. Jocelyn wanted to be with both of her parents most of the time, especially when they weren't on the Pearl. On the Pearl, it was fine, but on land, she didn't want to be separated from either one of them if she could see them both.

"Shh, Jocelyn, sweetheart, don't cry." Celeste whispered, rubbing Jocelyn's back comfortingly. Jocelyn continued to whimper.

"Will Marie Wyndham please take a seat in the front as well?" the judge asked. Marie obeyed and sat down in a chair at the front as well. They were at opposite ends of the court, but it wasn't far enough for either of their hatred for each other to subside. Jocelyn's whimpering continued.

"Jocelyn, let Daddy sit back there. We can't sit with him now." Celeste said quietly to Jocelyn. But this still didn't stop the whimpering. Jocelyn reached out for Jack again, and by this time, Jack felt sort of guilty for not being able to be there for her. Celeste sighed. Jocelyn was just too cute to refuse. All the while, the judge was shuffling through papers and getting everything in order. Celeste looked back at Jack and motioned for him to come and sit with them whether he was supposed to or not. Jack wasted no time; he got up and went to Celeste and Jocelyn, grabbing an extra chair on the way, and sat down next to them.

"Dah!" Jocelyn exclaimed happily, grabbing a piece of his hair. A few people who had been observing them laughed at this. Not in a bad way, but it was just so darn cute!

The judge looked up, having heard this, and stared at Jack. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Er, Captain Jack Sparrow." Jack replied. The judge didn't really care all that much whether Jack sat there or not, but Marie certainly did.

"Did he ask _you_ to sit up there?" Marie asked disapprovingly. A few other people threw out words of agreement.

"Yes, may I ask the reason for your sitting there?" the judge asked. He didn't sound irritated. Actually… he didn't show any emotion at all. He was very monotonous; this didn't make it so easy for them to tell whether he was going to believe them or not.

"Er, our daughter doesn' like bein' on land all that much… she usually wants both of 'er parents with 'er when we're not on the Pearl…" Jack explained uneasily. Of course, everyone knew about how the Sparrows lived on the Black Pearl, so that was self explanatory. The judge didn't really care that much. He continued preparing his papers, only giving a monotonous "alright." Marie didn't accept it so well.

"Sometimes you can't let children have _everything_ they want they'll grow up spoiled like some ungrateful brats I know." Marie said, glaring at Celeste.

"But enough about _your_ children, Marie." Celeste told her.

"How dare you!" Marie yelled.

"Order! Order!" the judge exclaimed, and the court quieted.

Marie was still not satisfied. "I'll have you know"

"Marie, shut up." Celeste sighed exasperatedly. "This isn't the time or the place. I'm not in the mood for this. Besides, you should respect the court enough to shut your mouth for long enough to let this take place."

The judge looked up. "I must agree with you." he said monotonously. Marie glared at Celeste. "Alright, let us begin. I am Judge Hawthorne. …So, Mrs. Sparrow, you are fully aware of the crime you are charged with, yes?"

"Yes." Celeste replied.

"Good." Hawthorne stated. "Mrs. Wyndham, would you please tell your side of the story?"

"Of course, sir." Marie said. "Well, I had gotten up at midnight to get a drink of water. I was walking downstairs to the galley, when she jumps out of the shadows with an axe and swings it at me like crazy!"

"And you're sure it was Mrs. Sparrow?" Hawthorne added. "What would've provoked her?"

"That very day, she'd threatened me!" Marie pressed. "She said that someday I was going to die and she was going to be there, holding the axe! She revealed her plan that very moment!"

"Mrs. Sparrow, did you say that?" Hawthorne asked.

Celeste hesitated. "I… I did… Only, I said something like… 'Someday, Marie, you're going to die and I'm going to be there… if I'm not the one holding the axe…' So I didn't _actually_ say I was going to kill her with an axe…"

"But you don't understand, sir!" Marie injected. "She's killed before!"

"What?" Hawthorne asked. He looked at Celeste in question. "Is this true?"

"Well… yes… but"

"Point proven!" Marie yelled.

"No!" Celeste objected. "I've killed evil men! We killed Bartholomeu Santara and his accomplices as well as Thomas Black and his accomplices! Sir, you have to take into consideration that we have saved many lives. Those men were killers we saved five women from Thomas Black; one being the late Commodore Norrington's niece. We helped David Flynn find Commodore Norrington's murderer!"

"I am aware of those events." Hawthorne stated. Because of his monotony, they could _not_ tell at all whether this was good or bad… "Mrs. Sparrow, Mrs. Wyndham's argument is very strong. Do you have any witnesses that you were there at midnight on the 24th?"

"Yes, I do." Celeste replied.

"Who?" Hawthorne asked.

"My husband." Celeste told him. "And the whole crew could tell you that I was there that night."

"But could they all confirm that you were there at _precisely_ midnight?" Hawthorne asked.

"Well… my husband can." she replied.

"Couldn't you have gotten up and snuck off and then snuck back?" Hawthorne asked.

"…No…" Celeste said uneasily. "He knows I was there."

"But couldn't it have been possible?" Hawthorne asked.

"No." Celeste replied.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because we were awake…" Celeste hesitated.

"At midnight? Why?" he asked.

Celeste's face turned blood red. "We were… awake…" Hawthorne waited for a clearer explanation. "Oh, sir, must I say? It's not something one generally speaks of in public."

Hawthorne paused for a moment. "…Oh. Well, are you sure it was at midnight exactly?"

"Well, I remember that we couldn't get Jocelyn to go to sleep until ten thirty and then…" Celeste said, still blushing profusely.

"Well, then, how can you be sure you were there at midnight?" Hawthorne asked.

Celeste decided to just blurt it out. She sighed, irritated. "Because it usually takes at _least_ four hours." She was blushing so hard, she thought her face was going to explode.

Silence followed this statement in which Celeste spent being embarrassed. Jack didn't really care all that much, Marie was disgusted, and Hawthorne didn't exactly know what to do with that bit of evidence.

"Wow." someone in the court suddenly said incredulously. It wasn't anyone they knew, just a random wowed person.

Hawthorne cleared his throat and continued court normally. "Well, I'm afraid neither of you has substantial evidence, but I must say that Mrs. Wyndham has made several points which direct to Mrs. Sparrow being the culprit. Unless you can come up with a witness, Mrs. Sparrow… we can convict you."

Celeste's eyes widened. "But but… I have two children and…"

"I am not going to be partial merely because you have children I want this court to be fair." Hawthorne stated. Yeah, really fair convicting on hearsay and completely circumstantial evidence.

"Oh, Jack…" Celeste panicked. "What are we going to do?"

He sighed. "I don' know… there's got to be somethin'…"

"Have you a witness?" Hawthorne asked. They racked their brains for something to say. "Well?" They still didn't reply. "Alright. Well, Mrs. Sparrow, I have no choice but to declare you guilty for"

Just then, Commodore Valentine barged into the court room.

"There's one more witness you need to hear, Judge Hawthorne." Valentine said. He knew what was going to happen in the court and had had a plan the whole time. Behind him, came Sierra. Celeste wondered what on earth Sierra could possibly say…

"Well, then, come up here, miss." Hawthorne said as Valentine sat down. Sierra obeyed and pulled up a chair next to Celeste. "State your name, please."

"Sierra Grey." she said.

"And what do you have to say in defense of Mrs. Sparrow?" Hawthorne asked.

'Oh, I'm doomed…' Celeste thought. 'Sierra will jump at the chance to get rid of me so she can have Jack… No, I shouldn't say that… But she's never given me a reason to contradict it!'

"Well, I can say that she was there most of the night." Sierra said. "I sat down to write some letters to people back in England at about eleven. I didn't finish writing them until one I remember writing in one of the letters that it was one o' clock and I had to get to bed."

"How do you know she was there the whole time?" Hawthorne asked.

"Well, for hours they were"

"We've heard what they were doing how do you know she was there the whole time?" Hawthorne pressed.

"Even though they got a lot quieter after they had kids so they wouldn't wake them, there's still noise I suppose they don't know it, though." Sierra explained. "They had moved their bed right up against my wall. The wall that my desk is on. Luckily, they moved it back just a little while ago. Anyway, on several occasions, I have had to move the desk from the wall because it was shaking so much." Celeste blushed more than before, if possible, and was shielding her face from the people in the court with her free hand. "But that wall always squeaks now. Someday, I honestly think it's going to fall apart. Anyway, the wall squeaked well after I finished the letter. I've gotten used to it, but don't think I don't hear it. Plus, I'm sure it was squeaking when I sat down because I remember complaining about it." Jack actually thought the situation was rather funny since all the people in the room were now staring at them with shock on their faces. Celeste was humiliated and was sure she wouldn't be able to show her face in town again.

"Besides all that, though…" Sierra continued. "I've known Celeste Sparrow for years. Even before she was a Sparrow. I've always been jealous of her because… besides the fact that she has Jack… she's one of the most decent people I've ever met. She's sweet and good and… has the purest soul of anyone I've ever known. She wouldn't do something like that. She teaches her kids the best of morals and you can talk to the other one who's with Gibbs, by the way" she added to Celeste and Jack, "and you'll know what kind of a person she is. I don't believe I'd ever think I'd hear these words coming out of my mouth, but there's nothing I can do to change who she is. She let me stay on her ship because I didn't have anywhere else to go, even though I was rude and ungrateful… If there would've been anyone who wanted her out of the picture, it would've been me because I'll always be jealous, but… this charge is just such a lie, I have to say something. I owe her a lot… and… everyone deserves a fair trial. Celeste Sparrow wouldn't hurt anyone who wasn't a wanted criminal ever. And everyone here had better believe it."

Celeste stared at Sierra, about to cry, she was so touched.

"Well, it seems we have another witness here." Hawthorne stated. "And it seems like a legitimate story. …Mrs. Wyndham, if whoever attacked you had wanted to kill you, wouldn't they have? You two were the only ones awake and present and… you had no defense. Why didn't they kill you then and there? You say you escaped, but why didn't she pursue you? She's much younger than you and very fit, she could've caught you."

Marie didn't reply, just mouthed wordlessly for a moment. "Well well… Don't ask me to understand the mind of a maniac!"

"Mrs. Wyndham, your story has too many holes in it." Hawthorne stated. "You have no evidence that anyone at all attacked you, much less Mrs. Sparrow."

"Ah!" Jocelyn exclaimed, wonderfully timed. The whole court laughed even Hawthorne.

"I think it is clear that Mrs. Sparrow is, indeed, innocent." Hawthorne concluded. "Case dismissed."

Marie protested to Hawthorne, but he didn't pay any attention. Celeste and Jack hugged and Jocelyn was happy simply because everyone else seemed to be. They made their way back to the Pearl.

"Sierra, thank you so much." Celeste told her. "That was such a wonderful thing to do."

"Yeah… well…" Sierra replied, acting tough, "well, I like your kids they deserve to have both parents, that's all."

"Thank you, nonetheless." Celeste said. "I'll always be grateful for that."

"Aye, Sierra, I got to thank you, too." Jack added.

"Feh!" Jocelyn exclaimed happily; they all laughed.

"I've never been so relieved." Celeste sighed. "Except the fact that I can never show my face in town again…"

"Hey, they pretend they don't do it they do. They're hypocrites." Sierra said.

"Did you have to describe it so much?" Celeste asked.

"Did you want to be hanged?" Sierra asked.

Celeste sighed. "No…"

"Those people don' know _everythin'_ about it, anyway, love." Jack said with a smirk. "They don' know that our record is a lot longer than that."

Celeste blushed. "Jack! Don't speak of such things!"

"What!" Sierra exclaimed. "You actually keep track!"

"Jus' notice." Jack explained. "Jus' lookin' at the clock before an' after it's not that difficult."

"What's the record?" Sierra asked curiously.

"It was our first anniversary, an' it was"

"None of your business!" Celeste butted in. "Er, let's hurry back to the Pearl, I'm hungry Jocelyn is, too. Come on, Jack." She and Jack hurried ahead. Jack looked back at Sierra.

"Eight hours!" Jack rushed.

"JACK!" Celeste scolded.

"Holy you two need a hobby!" Sierra exclaimed. "That's like… half the waking day…! Oh, my goodness! That's insane!"

"Let's not speak of it!" Celeste cried. "Come on, I'm hungry."

"After eight hours, who wouldn't be!" Sierra cried.

"Would you stop talking about it?" Celeste exclaimed. "Do not ever repeat that!"

"I won't say a word to anyone." Sierra assured. "I swear." Celeste nodded and she and Jack went on ahead. "Damn damn damn. There, I swear. Wait 'til the crew hears about this."

* * *

Hope you all enjoyed that chapter. Eight hours is actually a little inside joke with my friend Angela and I. Gackt (an awesome Jrocker), claims he can keep it up that long. So yeah. I always incorporate inside jokes and stuff from me everyday life in mah fics. Alrighty! I'm watching "Tru Calling" on Fox. GREAT SHOW. They're doing like a half season thing cuz it got cancelled, but now... I have no idea what's going on... I'm just glad Tru is back! Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

PLEASE REVIEW!


	5. Chapter 5: The Latest Fashion and a Clos...

ANOTHER CHAPTER! THANKS AGAIN TO JOHNNY'SHUMILIATEDGRAPE AND ILIVEINMIDDLEEARTH! I LOVE YOU ALL! Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 5: The Latest Fashion and a Close Call

It was decided that they would leave to go after Barbossa tomorrow. Commodore Valentine's second in command, Lenmark, had arrived at their ship. He was going to accompany them on their journey to stop Barbossa.

That night, Celeste had bought a new nightgown that was supposed to be the latest fashion. It was white and covered in lace. The upper part of it was tight fitting, but not uncomfortable, laced up in the front, and pretty low-cut. The skirt of it had a slit in the front, which ran all the way up to the upper thigh. On her legs, she wore white-sheer stockings that came up to mid-thigh and were lined in lace at the top.

She emerged from the closet, awkwardly tugging on the skirt, hoping it looked alright. Jack was reading something and waited a moment to look up at her. He finished the paragraph on the page and looked up.

"Wow!" he exclaimed.

"What?" she asked, looking around the room.

He threw the book across the room and jumped up, going to her. "What is this? This is new maybe I should give you more money to buy new things!"

"Oh, yes." she replied. "Do you like it? Elizabeth told me it was the latest fashion in Paris… I don't know how I feel about it what do you think?"

"I think you should burn everythin' else you own and wear this from now on." he said. She laughed. "No, I'm completely serious." He put his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…" she told him, smiling.

"No, this was a great idea!" he objected.

"Haha, I'm a little worried about your behavior…" she laughed, turning to the closet to change.

"No, no, no!" Jack exclaimed. "You're not goin' anywhere!" He stepped in front of her, picked her up, and threw her over his shoulder.

"What on earth are you doing!" she laughed.

"Guess." he replied, tossing her down on the bed, and climbing on top of her.

"Jack, if you just take this right off, there's no point in me even putting it on, is there?" she laughed.

"Sweetheart, that's the fun part o' course there's a point!" he told her, yanking on the laces on the front of the gown. He pushed her sleeves off her shoulders and kissed her chest. "You're goin' out tomorrow to buy another one o' these outfits I've decided."

"Oh, _you've_ decided, huh?" Celeste asked, laughing. "And what do you ever buy to entice _me_?"

"Do I really need to buy anythin' to achieve that?" he asked, pulling his shirt off.

"You really are far too arrogant, you scoundrel." she said, smiling.

"I know… but isn' it enticin'?"

She laughed and kissed him.

A few minutes later, the door opened and in walked Lenmark.

"I was wondering if someone could oh, gosh, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, turning away from them. Celeste sat up abruptly, pushing Jack away, and pulled the covers up to her neck. Jack looked up and glared at Lenmark.

"Er, it's alright." Celeste said, clearing her throat and flattening her mussed hair. "What did you want, Lister Menmark? I mean Mr. Lenmark…"

"I-I was just wondering if someone could direct me to the kitchen for some water…" Lenmark said shakily, keeping his back turned.

"Well, you could knock next time!" Jack snapped. "Or better, not disturb us at all!"

"Jack, don't be rude." Celeste scolded. "Of course, just a moment." She laced up the front of her gown and fixed whatever had been put out of place. She got up and put on her dressing gown. "Alright, I'll be glad to show you, sir."

"Wait a minute!" Jack objected. "You will not! Not dressed like that, anyway! You're not leavin' this room dressed like that!"

"Oh, Jack, stop being crazy." Celeste told him calmly, opening the door. "I'll go where I want to."

"Not without me you won'!" he exclaimed, standing up.

"Fine." she sighed. " Just a moment." she said to Lenmark. She picked up Jack's shirt and went to him. "At least put a shirt on." she told him, jerking the shirt over his head. "Crazy pirate…" she muttered. "Well, come on." She grabbed Jack's hand and walked out the door. "Pardon Jack, Mr. Lenmark he's completely insane."

"'ey!" Jack objected. She laughed and looked over at Lenmark, who looked concerned, and laughed again.

"No, no, I was just joking." she told Lenmark, laughing, as they headed to the galley.

"Well, I'm, er, sorry about the intrusion…" Lenmark said to Celeste.

"Don' look at 'er!" Jack exclaimed, pulling Celeste to the other side of him so Lenmark couldn't see her.

"Jack! What are you doing!" Celeste cried.

"'e looked at you!" Jack replied, eyeing Lenmark suspiciously.

"Well, yes, he _was_ talking to me! Quit being paranoid!" she scolded.

"You can never be too careful." Jack said.

"Excuse Jack's behavior he always gets angry when we get interrupted, and then he says stupid things." Celeste told Lenmark. He didn't look at her, though, terrified of what Jack might do. "Don't be afraid of him if I tell him not to do something, he won't do it." she looked at Jack. "Don't kill him or hurt him in any way!" she ordered. "He does what I say, don't worry." she said to Lenmark.

"'ey! I can think for meself!" Jack objected.

"Yes, but you think a lot of stupid things." she told him, smiling.

"Ohh, I'm goin' to get you back for that one, darling." he warned, smacking her backside.

"Jack!" she scolded, laughing.

Lenmark loudly cleared his throat to remind them of his presence. Celeste and Jack looked at him and silenced, Celeste blushing. They arrived in the galley a little bit later.

"Alright, well, you can get water over there." Celeste told Lenmark, pointing to the corner of the galley. He turned to look at it. Jack slipped a hand around Celeste's hips and Celeste slapped it off just as Lenmark looked back at them.

"Thank you." he said. Celeste nodded, smiling as if nothing had happened. Jack kissed Celeste's neck, but she pushed him away just as Lenmark looked back at them again. Celeste again smiled as if nothing had happened.

"Do you happen to have any apples, by chance?" Lenmark asked.

"Oh, yes, of course, they're on the counter over there." she replied, pointing to another corner of the galley.

"Ah, I see." Lenmark said, starting towards the water. Jack placed a hand on her chest and kissed her cheek. She pushed him away just as Lenmark looked back at them again. Once more, she smiled like nothing had happened. "I must thank you for your hospitality it's very kind of you."

"Oh, anytime, sir, no need to thank us." Celeste told him. He nodded and started toward the water again.

"Let's get out o' 'ere 'e can get it 'imself." Jack whispered, his lips to Celeste's ear. "I'm goin' to explode!"

She laughed quietly. "Wait just a minute." she whispered back. "You waited for quite a while before we got married, you can wait a few minutes."

"I've suffered enough." he told her quietly. "Anyway, mate, 'elp yourself to whatever you like." he said, raising his voice so Lenmark could hear him. "If you 'ave any more questions, feel free to ask Gibbs." Lenmark nodded. Jack picked Celeste up and carried her out of the galley hurriedly.

"Jack!" Celeste scolded. "That wasn't very polite to leave him there! He's our guest! And it wasn't very polite to just pick me up like that!"

"Aye, but wasn' it enticin'?" Jack asked, smiling. She smiled and he carried her back to their room. They lied down once more. "If one more person interrupts us, I'm rippin' their 'ead off, savvy?"

"No, Jack, don't do that it's not very polite." she said, smiling. She pulled his shirt off and gazed up at him; she noticed something. "I wonder what this is…" She placed a hand on the X on his chest that had been caused by Barbossa's witchdoctor crony's paper.

"Aye, it's ugly I don' want it there." he told her.

"Well, no, I mean… I just hope it isn't harmful to you or anything…" she added. "I wonder what on earth it could be for…"

"Suppose we'll find out, won' we?" Jack replied, kissing her neck.

"I don't know if we should just ignore this…" Celeste said uneasily.

"Well, sweetheart, what are we supposed to do? Send a carrier pigeon to Barbossa an' ask 'im?" he asked sarcastically.

"Well, no, baby, I'm just worried." she told him. "You know what Barbossa's capable of… I just don't want anything bad happening… again…"

Jack sighed. "I would really love to tell you that nothin' bad is goin' to 'appen, Princess… but I can't… You know I can't. I can't say anythin' to eclipse the bad righ' now. So we're goin' to 'ave to do what we always do. Forget the world until tomorrowescape into each other until we really 'ave to deal with our problems. We'll get through it like we always do… so chin up, my love." he said, tweaking her chin. He pushed the hair out of her face and kissed her.

The next day, they set sail for Isla de Ensayas once more.

"It'll be about two hours before we arrive." Gibbs informed them.

"Thanks." Jack replied. Gibbs nodded and left them. The Sparrows had just sat down to breakfast in the dining room at the time. Jack was multitasking eating breakfast, planning an attack, and holding Jocelyn in his lap all at once. "So, we'll go in, swords at the ready, givin' Barbossa no time to react or call out any of his minions." Jack planned, placing a piece of ham in his mouth. "Savvy?"

"Well, that sounds good now, but it's not so easy to predict what they're going to do in the moment." Celeste replied. "They could be completely ready for us when we get there and the whole plan would be useless."

"Mummy." Christopher said, tugging on Celeste's dress. "Will you cut my meat for me?"

"Oh, of course, sweetheart." Celeste told him, pulling his plate over in front of her and cutting the meat.

"I realize that, Princess, tha's why we got to act fast." Jack continued, taking a drink of water.

"Why do you call Mummy Princess?" Christopher asked curiously. "I thought princesses were little girls."

"Mummy's not an old girl, however." Celeste injected quietly.

Jack laughed. "Because when I met 'er she always looked just as beautiful as a princess. An' then, I always treated 'er like a princess because she deserved nothing less than that." He looked at Celeste. "An' no matter 'ow old she gets bein' incredibly young righ' now an' lookin' even younger than she is she will always be a princess to me." He leaned over and gave her a short kiss; she smiled.

"Eahh!" Jocelyn cried.

"Oh, you're a princess, too, darling." Jack said comfortingly, patting Jocelyn on the head. She laughed happily, glad to finally get some recognition.

"What about us?" Christopher asked. "What are we?"

"Well, we're pirates." Jack replied. "Pirate captains sailin' the seven seas… or… jus' the Caribbean… an' keepin' princesses like Jocelyn and Mummy safe from terrible men like Barbossa."

"That's a good thing to be." Christopher stated as Celeste gave him his plate back. "I'm going to be a captain someday that's what I want."

"An' you'll get it, mate, jus' work 'ard enough for it an' be good." Jack told him. "Besides, if you do someday prove that you're captain material, you already got yourself a ship the Pearl is yours when you get old enough."

"Really!" Christopher cried excitedly.

"O' course." Jack replied.

"Wow!" Christopher exclaimed. "But… what about Jocelyn? Won't she get a ship?"

"Well, she's already as spoiled as your mother she'll probably want a brand new one if she wants to be a captain." Jack told him.

"It's good that you thought of her, though, darling that was very nice." Celeste said to Christopher, patting his head. Christopher smiled.

"I got it!" Jack exclaimed. "We'll 'ave the crew back us up. They'll follow us there an' then attack!"

"That won't work what if Barbossa has people hiding with guns to shoot at extra people?" Celeste asked. "I think it would work best if just you, Lenmark, Sierra, and I go."

"If only a few of you go, they probably won't see you." Christopher added. Jack and Celeste looked at him. Celeste dropped her fork and Jack almost choked on his ham. "They don't know when you're coming."

"Tha's a brilliant plan!" Jack exclaimed.

"How did you know that, Christopher?" Celeste asked, amazed. Christopher shrugged. "Did you hear the crew talking about it?"

"No, I just thought it." Christopher replied. "It's like the time you were made chief, Daddy."

"O' course!" Jack recalled, smacking himself in the forehead. "Why didn' I think o' that? Tha's it my son's goin' to be the cleverest pirate in the Caribbean!" Christopher and Celeste both smiled. Jack looked down, noticing that Jocelyn was attempting to pull a piece of meat from his plate. "'ey! You ate jus' a few minutes ago, sweetheart! Daddy's goin' to die if you keep stealin' me food!" Jocelyn _did _have the tendency to do that. When she got bored of just sitting there and no one was paying attention to her, she'd always want something entertaining to do. Apparently, food is always the answer. Jocelyn looked up at Jack and laughed in amusement. "Augh! You're jus' so cute! Tha's it the meat is yours. I can't refuse that face." They all laughed.

After a few minutes, Christopher sighed. "Can't someone else go?" he asked. "I don't want you to go… Barbossa is really mean… I'm scared…"

Celeste looked at him sympathetically. "Come here, sweetheart." She pulled him onto her lap and hugged him. "I know it's scary, darling, but we have to go. Daddy is the best pirate in the Caribbean. He's the only one who can stop Barbossa."

"Well, why are _you _going?" Christopher asked.

"Because even Daddy needs help sometimes." Celeste replied. "Don't worry about us. We'll be fine. We love you and Jocelyn too much to let anything happen to us."

"Promise you'll be okay?" Christopher asked.

"Promise." Celeste told him, and kissed his cheek.

"Aye, don' worry, mate we'll be fine." Jack said, patting Christopher's head.

They came ashore and set out to find Barbossa. The company consisted of Jack, Celeste, Lenmark, and Sierra. They walked down a dirt road that led into a forest and came upon a sign. They read it. "Follow the birdseed, Sparrows." the sign said. There was a trail of seeds leading up the road; they followed it until they came to a large house. The moment they entered, an awful smell hit them.

"Oh, someone needs to lay off the rum!" Sierra exclaimed. "Smells like they've got all the rum in the Caribbean stashed here!"

They crept further into the house and heard voices behind a door.

"Surely Mrs. Sparrow's trial won't be over so soon." someone said. "We can relax for a while."

"I don' know they seemed awfully angry… Maybe they got finished wif the trial early so they could rush back 'ere." someone suggested.

"It couldn't be over this fast." Barbossa stated coldly. "Besides, I was able to get into her head for a while several days ago. She was very worried. I doubt they had much chance in the case. They probably convicted her."

"But that's bad for us, isn't it?" someone asked. "I mean, what's Jack got to lose, then?"

"He's still got the Pearl." Barbossa explained. "That probably means just as much to him. And his whelps. Seemed pretty attached to them. …Though, I certainly hope Mrs. Sparrow isn't dead. I doubt she is… Jack would easily break the law for her they could've just left the town."

"What good is Mrs. Sparrow to us if she's not our bait for Jack?" someone asked.

"Are ye a eunuch, Twigg?" Barbossa asked. "Have ye _seen_ the woman? Nothin' like that in Tortuga, I'll tell ye that."

"Eh, she's got nothin' upstairs that's where it counts." someone said.

Celeste scowled through the door at the stupid pigs.

"But look at her face." Barbossa replied. "She's easily the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Aside from the front, perfect form. If ye think I'm lettin' her go, ye got another think comin'."

"An' 'as she got a rump on her!" someone added. They all laughed and threw out agreements. Celeste glared through the door, disgusted. Jack stepped behind Celeste and put his arms around her waist.

"Aye, that woman is mine." Barbossa stated. "These are my orders: no one lays a hand on her. I want her alive and kickin'… and screamin'… and yellin'." he laughed sadistically and his crew joined in. "She and Jack have to stay alive until the time is right. Kill anyone who comes with them. It's such a bother that the magic won't work on Jack…"

"Why not?" someone asked.

"Do ye ever pay attention, ye idiot?" Barbossa asked angrily. "The paper! The X that's stuck on Jack's chest now! It means he's immune to the magic!"

"Why would you want him to be immune?"

"…Yer an idiot." Barbossa replied. "I'm goin' to say this _one more time_. Jack is the man I'm gettin' revenge on. That's the only way I could be resurrected. I need the blood and the life of Jack in order to receive immortality and invincibility. After I do that, I'll take over the Caribbean."

"Alone?"

"No, stupid!" Barbossa told them obviously. "After I become immortal, I'll summon the army of the underworld!" (Because that's so obvious) "I could take over the world with that kind of an army. We'll see what comes. Maybe I will. …Any more questions, ye dopes?" Not a sound. "Alright, well, let's get back to the ship! Doesn't look like the Sparrows are comin' today."

It sounded like they were they were all getting up and heading for the door.

"Hide!" Jack whispered. They all scattered into the surrounding rooms and hid. Celeste hid under a desk, Jack hid behind a suit of armor, and Lenmark and Sierra both hid in a closet.

Five of Barbossa's crewmembers entered the room that Lenmark and Sierra were hiding in. They were heading for the closet… They opened the door and yelled in surprise.

"Grab them!" a crewmember yelled, and the others obeyed. Lenmark and Sierra were struggling against their captors. "Who are you?" They didn't answer. "Friends of the Sparrows, I suppose. BARBOSSA!"

Barbossa entered the room a few moments later hurriedly. "What!" he asked, annoyed. "And I told you to call me _Captain_!"

"Friends of the Sparrows here." the crewmember told him.

"Oh, really?" Barbossa asked. "And are the Sparrows here?" No reply. Barbossa took out his sword and held it to Lenmark's neck. "Are the Sparrows here?" he repeated.

"No." Lenmark answered, pretending to be terrified. "They're still back at the ship. They sent us in to see how many crewmembers you had with you here."

"What a valiant person they sent." Barbossa sneered. He looked at Sierra. "The girl's alright, but… eh, let's kill her both of them."

"No!" Lenmark cried.

"Ye know what?" Barbossa asked. "I've got a great idea. We were just leavin' this place, anyway. We'll let ye go I'm such a wonderful person. Come on." They left the house and stood out in the front. Jack and Celeste still waited warily inside. "Alright, let them go." The crewmembers obeyed. "Let ye in on somethin'. I think I believe ye about the Sparrows bein' back at the ship. Though, I think there's more of ye than just ye two. We're done with this house might as well torch it."

"What!" Sierra cried.

"I knew there were more of you in there." Barbossa concluded. "Well, too bad for them. Go back and tell the Sparrows to send someone able next time. Unless it's the Sparrows who are in there. It'd be best to tell me now."

Lenmark and Sierra thought about what to say. If they spilled the beans about Jack and Celeste being inside, Barbossa could easily get his whole crew (who were waiting outside as well) to go in and capture them. But it seemed that if they told Barbossa about Jack and Celeste being inside, they wouldn't light the house on fire and Jack and Celeste would get out alive… This seemed like a no win situation.

"Send men around the back to light the fire. Two of ye light the front." Barbossa ordered.

"Of course!" Lenmark whispered to Sierra. "That's why the house smelled like rum! They'd poured it all over the house so it would be more flammable! That was their plan all along!" The fires were lit and the house was set ablaze.

"Now off with ye two! Tell the Sparrows to go to Lark an island about a mile away." Barbossa said to Lenmark and Sierra. "Back to yer Sparrows! Come, men!" They all marched off.

The doorways were all set in flames there was no way Lenmark and Sierra could get in. They decided to go back to the ship and get help since there was nothing they could do as of now.

Celeste came out of hiding and went to Jack. "What do you suppose happened? You think Lenmark and Sierra are alright?"

"Probably. Lenmark sounded like he fooled Barbossa." Jack replied. "I think they're gone. We can leave now, I think." Jack sniffed the air. "Smells like… somethin's burnin'!" The roof by this time had caught fire, but they didn't know because they weren't on the second floor… "Let's get out o' 'ere!" They couldn't remember where they came in since the rooms all looked the same, so they just hurried into random places until they reached what seemed to be the house's heart. "Well, from 'ere, we can probably jus' go that way." he said, pointing forward.

"Jack…" Celeste said quietly.

"What?" he asked. She pointed to the center of the room and his eyes widened. Four kegs of gunpowder were piled up. "LET'S GO!"

They rushed out of the room and realized that a flame was quickly shooting past them, headed for the gunpowder. "HOLY DAVY JONES! HURRY!" They ran at top speed down the halls and through rooms. Suddenly, a rafter fell and flames followed it from the ceiling, almost hitting Celeste. They continued through the house and realized they had gotten lost… They weren't at the front door, but the side of the house. "Jump through the window after me!"

Jack leapt through one of the windows, shattering the glass and getting cuts in the process. Celeste jumped through the window after him and they started to run at top speed for a small dell in the distance, but just after they escaped the house, it exploded, sending them flying. They flew into the dell, actually, but not so comfortably. They coughed and dusted themselves off.

"Are you alrigh'?" Jack asked Celeste.

"Not really but we can take care of it when we get back to the ship. You?"

"Not really we can also take care of this when we get back to the ship." he replied. They stood up and staggered back to the Pearl just as Lenmark, Sierra, and much of the crew had started to leave. Sierra ran to them.

"Are you alright!" she cried.

"Not really." they replied simultaneously.

"No serious damage we want to lie down, though." Jack said. He and Celeste went tiredly to their room where Anamaria was taking care of Jocelyn and Christopher.

"Oh, are you alright!" Anamaria exclaimed, seeing their worn state.

"…Not really." they replied simultaneously.

"Well, I'll leave you alone, then." Anamaria said. "Your children were angels as usual." They smiled and she left.

"'ey, Christopher." Jack greeted, kneeling next to him. "'ave fun with Anamaria?" Christopher nodded. "Good."

"See, sweetheart?" Celeste asked, kneeling next to him as well. "We told you we'd be fine." Christopher nodded and hugged her. She winced when he brushed by her arm, though. He hugged Jack as well, who kissed him on the cheek.

"Did you kill Barbossa?" Christohper asked.

"…No, he got away." Celeste told him. "But we'll get him next time. Your plan worked well, though, darling." Christopher smiled happily.

"Well, Mummy and Daddy are tired righ' now we're goin' to take a nap after all the commotion." Jack told Christopher. "So you go on back to your room an' we'll see you at dinner, savvy?"

"Okay, Daddy." Christopher replied. Celeste kissed his cheek and he left the room.

"Oh, OUCH! Ah, ohh!" they groaned just after Christopher left.

"Wha's wrong with _you_, love?" Jack asked, rubbing his hip, which was sure to be bruised in no time.

"I-I think I dislocated my shoulder…" she replied painfully.

"Oh, no..." Jack said. "Alrigh', darling, I've done this before, don' worry about it. You'll be fine, but it's goin' to 'urt I'll level with you." She nodded. "Hold on to the bedpost with your other hand." She obeyed. "Alrigh'…" He grabbed onto her arm, placing one hand on the front of her shoulder, and yanked it back into place. Celeste didn't want to scream in pain, so she clenched her teeth. She still yelped in pain, but didn't let it be so loud. It took her a minute to recover from that extreme pain, but she finally did.

"Thanks…" she said.

"Anytime." he replied.

"And what's wrong with _you_?" she asked.

"Got a really big chunk o' glass stuck in me arm." he told her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Alright, here." She helped him remove his jacket, effects, vest, and shirt. "Ooh, ouch…" she mumbled, eyeing the wound. She placed a hand on his arm and made to pull out the glass.

"OUCH!" he exclaimed.

"I didn't touch it yet!" Celeste told him.

"Oh…"

She started to pull the glass out again and he flinched. "Sweetheart, stand still I can't help you if you keep moving around."

"Sorry…" he said. She started to pull the glass out once more, and he flinched again.

"Jack, stop moving!" she cried.

"I'm sorry! It's painful!" he retorted. "There's nothin' I can do!"

"Fine. Motivation: I'll wear the outfit again tonight if you stand still." she told him.

He paused. "Motivation enough. I won' move a muscle." This time, she was able to pull the glass out. She disposed of it and took some bandages from a drawer. She went back to him and bandaged his arm.

"There you go." she said, tying the bandage off. She flopped down on the bed tiredly and he flopped down next to her. She sighed. "Well, at least we know what that X is for and what Barbossa's plan is."

"Aye." Jack replied. Just then, Jocelyn started crying.

"Oh, Jocelyn, you pick the perfect times to cry…" Celeste groaned. She dragged herself out of bed. "Alright, sweetheart, I'm coming." She picked Jocelyn up and rocked her for a while until she stopped crying.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Celeste called, and Sierra entered.

"Hello, Sierra." Celeste greeted.

Sierra nodded in acknowledgement. "Hey, Jossy." she greeted, patting Jocelyn's head. Jocelyn laughed happily. "Well, Barbossa said that he would be at an island called Lark…" Sierra told them.

Jack sighed. "Can you tell Gibbs to set a course for it? …If anyone knows where it is…"

"Sure." Sierra replied. "Barbossa said it was about a mile away."

"Alright. Thanks, Sierra." Celeste said. Sierra nodded and left. Celeste put Jocelyn back in her crib and lied down next to Jack again. "Ugh… my shoulder hurts."

"I'm sorry, Princess." Jack told her. He pushed the sleeve off her shoulder and kissed it. "I'll tell you… I'd love to do more, but in no way do I have the energy…"

"Hahaha, it's alright same here, anyway." she replied. "Save it for later…"

"Oh, I will you can count on it."

* * *

Hope you enjoyed that chapter! Ouch to dislocated shoulders and glass in arms. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

I was watching the North Carolina vs. Illinois basketball game and saw a NEW Star Wars Episode 3 trailer! It wasn't one of the two theater released trailers, it was new! Shorter, but had new footage! Keep your eyes open! STAR WARS ROCKS!


	6. Chapter 6: Heated Battles

FINALLY I UPDATE! Sorry 'bout the wait! Lots and lots to do. Graduation tomorrow! Yay! But tiring! And boring ceremony. Anyway, enjoy the chappie! Thanks to Johnny'shumiliatedgrape and iliveinmiddleearth for reviewing like mad! I love you guys! And I promise I'll read your fics just as soon as all this graduation stuff gets sorted out!

* * *

Chapter 6: Heated Battles

The next day, they set sail for Lark; apparently, it was only a few days journey. Unfortunately, that day, Christopher said he wasn't feeling well. Turned out he had a fever…

All day, Celeste did whatever she could to aid Christopher. She got him water whenever he called for it, brought him fruit sliced exactly as he liked it, and held his hand when company was all he wanted. Jack came in to tell him stories on occasion and offered to take over for Celeste for a while, but she wouldn't have it.

"Darling, let _me_ do somethin'." he told her as they were down in the galley that night; she was cutting up an apple for Christopher. "You're goin' to tire yourself out."

"I'll be fine." Celeste dismissed.

"Well, I can 'elp you with 'is food an' all." he said.

"No, you don't know how to fix it." she replied.

"You're jus' cuttin' an apple." he told her.

"But I have to cut it like he likes it to be cut." she pressed. "There's a difference, you know."

"Well, after this, will you go to sleep?" he asked. "You can't keep doin' this -- you've been stayin' up 'til all hours."

"I'm taking care of our sick son, what am I supposed to do?" she asked bitterly.

"Well, you certainly shouldn' do it all yourself." he said. "This along with caring for Jocelyn. You can only do so much. I've done what I can to 'elp you, but you won' let me do anythin'."

"I'm fine, Jack, stop worrying. If I can kill Bartholomeu Santara, I can take care of my children." she told him, as she finished cutting the apple. She picked up the bowl of cut up apple and started to leave the galley; she stopped at the door and turned around. "I'm sorry, Jack… I know you're just concerned about me, but… I can't help but be worried sick about Christopher… I'm sorry I snapped at you -- you mean well, I know you do." She turned and left the galley.

After Celeste had gotten Christopher to go to sleep, she went to her room and dressed for bed. She got into bed with Jack, exhausted, and lied down comfortably; he put his arms around her. A few moments later…

"Mummy!" Christopher called. Celeste's eyes shot open and she sat up quickly.

"Coming, Christopher!" she yelled. She started to hop up out of bed, but her foot got caught in the blankets and she fell over to the floor.

Normally, this would've been a very comical moment, if it weren't for the fact that Jack was so worried about her. He got up and helped her stand.

"I'll 'elp 'im, savvy?" he said, helping her into bed.

"Well… alright…"

Jack went into Christopher's room and got him a glass of water as he asked for. When he went back to his room, Celeste was sound asleep. That night, they were awakened only once by Jocelyn, which is a record for a six month year old.

The next morning, Celeste woke up to Christopher calling for her. He asked her for an apple, sliced like he liked it, and she went to the galley to fix it. She took it to him and went back to her room. Jack was awake by then.

"Love, let me do somethin' today, savvy?" he asked. "Don' want to get too tired out, do you?" Just then, Celeste's knees gave out and she fell to the floor. "Celeste!" he exclaimed, jumping up and going to her. He picked her up and put her on the bed. "I knew it -- you're exhausted. I knew you'd tire yourself out."

"Oh, no…" Celeste muttered. "I can't help Christopher…"

"_I_ can 'elp, Princess, I _am_ 'is father, you know." he said.

"Of course… of course you are." Celeste replied.

"Aye, I'd better be!" he joked; she laughed.

"Mummy!" Christopher called.

"One minute, Christopher!" Jack yelled. He looked at Celeste. "Now, you jus' rest, I'll take care o' Christopher, don' worry." He told her and kissed her forehead.

"Oh, and if he wants an apple, make sure to cut it right -- did you see me yesterday?" she asked.

"Well, no one cuts apples like you, love, but I can try." he said with a smile. She smiled. "An' if you want somethin', yell for me. If I see you up, besides for Jocelyn, I'll…"

"You'll what?"

"I'll… figure it out later, but I won' be 'appy!" he replied jokingly, and she laughed. "Now, you get some rest, savvy?"

"Savvy." she replied, smiling. He kissed her and went to Christopher's room. "'ey, Christopher." he greeted, sitting on Christopher's bed.

"Hi, Daddy." Christopher greeted.

"Can I get somethin' for you?" Jack asked.

Christopher nodded. "Another wet cloth, please. My head is hot."

"O' course, son, I'll be right back." he told him. He went down to the galley and got a wet cloth and brought it back up to Christopher. He placed it on Christopher's head and sat with him.

"Where's Mummy?" Christopher asked.

"…Mummy isn' feelin' well." Jack told him. "She's restin'."

"Is she sick because of me?" Christopher asked.

"O' course not." Jack said comfortingly. "An' she's not sick, she's jus' tired. …You want me to tell you a story?" Christopher nodded. "Alrigh', which one?"

"The one about how you beat Barbossa."

"Ah, yes, a wonderful story." Jack replied, taking his hand. "Well…"

A little while later, Jack had finished this story and Christopher had fallen asleep. Just then, the door opened; it was Anamaria. She gestured for him to talk to her -- he nodded and let go of Christopher's hand and followed her outside.

"Jack, his fever is really bad." Anamaria said quietly. "I was in a little while ago -- he's burning up."

"I know…" Jack replied quietly.

"It's really serious, Jack." she stated. "If the fever gets much worse, it could be fatal…"

Jack froze. "What? …No, it can't be fatal… It can't be…"

"He should be fine, but if it really gets worse… I had to tell you -- I didn't think it would be right to not say anything." Anamaria told him.

"Er, thank you, Anamaria…" he said. She nodded and left and he went back into Christopher's room. He sat down and took the wet cloth off Christopher's forehead and placed it on the bedside table. He pushed the hair out of Christopher's face and looked at him. Christopher remained asleep. "You got to fight, son." he whispered. "You got to stay strong an' beat this." he sighed. "You mean the world to me, you know. The moment I saw you, I knew why I was alive… Celeste fought so 'ard for you -- to bring you into this world and we're _not_ goin' to lose you." He kissed Christopher on the cheek and left the room. He went down to the galley to get a glass of water and met Anamaria on the way.

He sighed. "Anamaria, I jus' don' know what to do…" he told her. "Celeste is exhausted enough as it is, I don' want to add stress on 'er…"

"Well, she should know." Anamaria replied. "It is her son, after all."

"I know… an' I should tell 'er…" he said. "I jus' don' want to tell 'er now… I suppose I 'ave no choice, though, do I?"

"No, I don't think you do." Anamaria told him. "You should just go up and tell her."

Jack nodded. He drank down a glass of water and went upstairs to his room. Celeste was sitting on the bed, holding Jocelyn.

"'ey, darling." he greeted, sitting down next to her.

"Hi." she replied, smiling down at Jocelyn. "Jocelyn seems to have discovered how incredibly amusing my necklace is." Jocelyn was tugging on Celeste's necklace, occasionally stopping to just look at it. Jack smiled and patted Jocelyn on the head. Jocelyn looked up at him.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, and went back to marveling at the necklace.

"Well, 'ello to you, too, sweetheart." he told her, smiling.

'Can this get any 'arder?' Jack thought.

Celeste smiled. "Oh, what would I do without my children?"

'Apparently so.' he thought.

"Celeste, love, I, er…" he began nervously, "well, Anamaria… She said that, er… Well…"

"What?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, goodness…" Jack muttered, looking away from her.

"What is it?" she asked, now starting to get worried.

"Anamaria… she says that Christopher's fever… is, erm… pretty serious." he told her. She just looked at him. "Very… serious, actually…" She still just looked at him. "If it, er… if it gets much worse… well, she says it could be… fatal…" Celeste froze.

"F…f…f-f-fatal…?" Celeste stuttered. "N-no… no…! No, no, no, no, no!" Jocelyn sensed Celeste's hysteria and started to cry. Jack picked up Jocelyn and let her rest on his shoulder, patting her on the back comfortingly. "No, Jack, no!"

"Darling, it should be fine, but we jus' need to be aware -- tha's all." he told her. "I thought you 'ad a righ' to know." Celeste started to hyperventilate, panicking quite a bit. "Love, don' panic -- we jus' 'ave to--"

"How can I not panic!" she hissed, avoiding yelling so she wouldn't wake up Christopher or frighten Jocelyn any more. "My child might die and you expect me not to panic!"

"We _can't _panic, Celeste!" he hissed back. "You think I'm not terrified! You think I'm not as concerned as you are! Well, you're wrong if tha's what you think! We can't panic because we got to stay alert an' we got to stay calm so we don't alarm Christopher! Damn it, why do you always make me out to be so insensitive!"

"Jack, you watch your language!" she ordered. Jocelyn started crying louder, distressed by the argument.

"Don' you think there are more important things afoot than me watchin' my language?" he asked bitterly. "I always get shoved off as painfully insensitive when I'm jus' tryin' to keep the situation calm so everythin' works out!"

"I do not say you're insensitive."

"What do you think that was that you jus' said?" he asked. "About 'ow _your_ child migh' die and _I_ expect _you _not to panic? 'e's my child, too, you know, an' I'm scared to death!"

"I never said he wasn't and I never said you weren't!" she argued. Jocelyn was still crying and neither of them could take it anymore. "Look, let's just stop. Jocelyn doesn't like it when we argue."

"An' neither do I -- I don' blame 'er." Jack replied coldly. She sighed in annoyance. Jack looked away from her and sat Jocelyn on his lap. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. It's alrigh' now." He kissed her and she grabbed onto a piece of his hair, still whimpering. He picked her up and rocked her in his arms and she gradually stopped crying. He smiled at her and went over to her crib and placed her in it.

"I do not make you out to be insensitive." she muttered.

"Oh, but you do, darling." he replied condescendingly. She stood up and went to him. "You really act like such a spoiled brat sometimes, you know that?"

"Oh, grow up, Jack!" she groaned.

"Aye, _I _need to grow up, when it's _you_ who shoves everything off on me."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"I'm 'olding up everythin' we 'ave every time there's a problem!" he hissed. "I'm the one who stays calm an' keeps a level 'ead! You panic an' despair an' leave everythin' for _me _to deal with! Everythin' is restin' on _my_ shoulders every time somethin' 'appens because you won' deal with it!"

She paused, scowling at him. "Get out." she growled.

"What?"

"Get out of this room right now." she ordered.

"You forget it was my room in the first place." he told her.

"Get out before I _make_ you get out." she stated.

"An' 'ow do you propose to do that?" he asked patronizingly.

"Just get away from me, Jack!" she hissed, shoving him away. "Now you really _are_ being insensitive!" He stood, looking at her for a moment. "Get out!" She shoved him again, tears coming to her eyes. "Just get out!"

"Fine." he said simply and left the room.

Celeste flopped down on the bed, crying from frustration. Jack stormed down the hall and entered an empty room, sitting down on the bed. He wanted to be alone so he could cool down a little. He didn't mean a _thing_ he said to Celeste; the words just flowed out through his anger. It was the same with Celeste. She didn't aim to make Jack out to be insensitive. She didn't think he was insensitive at all…

After about an hour of fuming and anger-taming, Jack was finally given motivation to get up and leave the room. Christopher was calling for him. He went into Christopher's room and sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Aye, mate?" Jack asked patiently.

"Daddy, is Mummy alright?" Christopher asked.

"O' course she is." Jack replied. "Why?"

"I just… want to see her…" Christopher said.

"…Sure, son." Jack told him. He patted Christopher's head and got up and left the room. He went to his bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Celeste called. He opened the door and entered the room. She was lying on the bed tiredly. "Oh… hello…"

"Christopher wants to see you." he said rigidly.

"Oh." she said brighter. "Alright." She got up and went to the door, carefully avoiding him. She went to Christopher's room and Jack stayed behind with Jocelyn. After Celeste was finished visiting with Christopher, she went back to her room. Jack was still there, playing with Jocelyn. He didn't look at Celeste when she came in. They were both still a little angry. She looked at him for a few moments. "I want you to take back what you said."

"I said a lot o' things, love, I wouldn' know what to take back." he told her, still not looking up at her.

"You know what I mean." she said.

"Well, when you stop makin' me out to be insensitive, maybe I'll take back those things."

"Look at me when you're talking to me, Jack!" she ordered. He sighed and went to her. "Now… you take those things back. I try my hardest to keep things together and stay strong -- I didn't realize I was burdening you so much!"

"I'll take them back when you stop makin' me out to be insensitive."

"Quit saying that!" she hissed.

"Well, it's true." he stated.

"You have never once said those things to me! Never!" she hissed. "What is the matter with you!"

"What _is_ the matter with me, I wonder." he replied. "I'd like to know."

"WILL YOU STOP BEING SO CONDESCENDING!" she yelled.

"SHUT UP! YOU'LL UPSET JOCELYN!" he yelled (just as loud), but Jocelyn was already pretty upset; she was crying.

"DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" she screamed, and slapped him hard in the face. He recoiled, being taken fairly off-guard as she hadn't slapped him for quite a long time, and she'd hit him really hard, so it was very painful. Suddenly, Celeste started crying and she fell to her knees. "I'm sorry, Jack!" she sobbed, hugging his legs. "I'm so sorry!"

Right then, her remaining energy ran out. She realized it and started to stand up to go to the bed, but she didn't make it. Her knees gave out and she fell on her back on the floor. Jack went to her and bent down to pick her up, but she protested.

"Don't touch me, Jack -- I don't deserve it!" she sobbed. "Just leave me here. Take care of Jocelyn -- I can wait. She's more important." she told him through her sobs. He sighed and went to Jocelyn. After he got her to stop crying, he went back to Celeste, who was still crying herself. She struggled to stand up, but got dizzy every time she tried. He picked her up and placed her on the bed. He hadn't said anything since she'd hit him… After he put her down, he went to the window and gazed out of it. "I said I was sorry…" she said guiltily.

"I know you did." he replied. "An' I'm sorry you said it."

"…Why?"

"Because I should've said it in the first place." he stated. "I was the one who started all o' this."

"No…"

"Well, regardless, I'm still sorry." he told her, going to the bedside. "I don' know where half that stuff came from… I don' think I 'ave to 'andle everythin', sweetheart -- mentally, you're much stronger than I am." Just then, Christopher called for them. "Comin', son!" He looked at Celeste and placed a hand on her cheek. They smiled and he left the room. Jack went to Christopher's room and sat down on the side of his bed. "Aye?"

"What was that yelling?" Christopher asked timidly.

"Oh… oh, nothin'… It was nothin'." Jack dismissed guiltily. "Trust me." Christopher nodded. After a few minutes, Jack left the room and returned to Celeste.

"Is Christopher alright?" she asked as he sat down next to her on the bed.

"Aye, but… 'e 'eard the fight…" Jack said.

Celeste's heart sunk. "It was really selfish of us to yell like that… I remember what it was like to hear my parents fight… It hurt a lot." She looked at him. "I don't want to burden my children like that. I'd say 'let's never fight again,' but there's no controlling that… If we do argue, let's do it quietly…"

"I agree." Jack said. "An' without hittin'."

"Oh, that's right!" she recalled. "Oh, Jack, I really am sorry about that!"

"I know you are." he replied smiling. He leaned over and kissed her. Just then, there was a knock at the door. "Come in!"

Anamaria entered the room and shut the door behind her. "I wanted to say that we'll be at Lark tomorrow."

"Oh, good." Celeste said.

"Aye." Anamaria agreed. "One thing… I checked in on Christopher… It's not looking too good… But before you panic… Gibbs told me why he knows where Lark is. It's an island that grows really rare herbs. I might be able to ease Christopher's fever and possibly get rid of it by getting one of those herbs."

"REALLY!" Jack and Celeste exclaimed simultaneously.

She nodded. "The herb is… erm… let me remember here… blue with small white flowers on it."

"I'll be sure to find all the blue herbs with small white flowers I possibly can." Celeste said.

The next day, they weighed anchor at Lark. Jack and Celeste went into Christopher's room to check on him before they left.

"I don't want you to go…" Christopher whimpered.

"Sweetheart, we're going to kill Barbossa." Celeste reasoned. "And we're going to get some plants that Anamaria can use to make you feel better."

"Well… okay… but you'll be okay, right?" Christopher asked worriedly.

"O' course we will." Jack told him. They hugged their son and set out on their journey to defeat Barbossa.

They planned to have the crew row out and ambush Barbossa's crew and hopefully conquer them.

Jack and Celeste rowed ashore and were greeted by one of Barbossa's crewmembers.

"I'm supposed to lead you to the Captain." the crewmember said.

"Fine -- lead the way." Jack replied resentfully. They were led to the entrance to a tall cave where Barbossa was waiting. The crewmember rushed off, back to the ship most likely.

"Ah, Sparrows, welcome." Barbossa greeted. "I was startin' to think ye wouldn't come." The witchdoctor stepped out from behind him. "Restrain Jack, please." The witchdoctor whispered something and waved his wooden staff and some logs from the side of the cave flew across and hit Jack, pinning him to the wall. "The magic can't affect ye directly, but that doesn't mean bewitched _objects_ can't." He looked at Celeste. "I thought ye might want to play for a while, Mrs. Sparrow." Barbossa said. She scowled at him. "Well?" She unsheathed her swords and charged at him.

They fenced vigorously, Barbossa sneering arrogantly the whole time. Finally, she disarmed him and pinned him to the floor. She held her sword to his neck. That was too easy… Why?

"Ye don't want to be doin' that, missy." he warned.

"You know, I'm pretty sure I do." she stated.

"Well, it's just Jack's funeral." he told her tauntingly. He looked at Jack. "Memories of Isla de Muerta, eh?" Jack still scowled at him, struggling against his bonds. She looked at him questioningly. "The Simul Stone -- ye don't know what it does, do ye?" She still just looked at him. "I performed a ritual usin' the Simul Stone that makes Jack and I connected. An' he even brought it to me. Sealed his own fate. Ye see, the reason I was resurrected was because of my rage at him. With the help of the Simul Stone, I can kill him myself -- or someone else will. Basically, you stab me, you stab him."

She eyed him suspiciously. "I don't believe you."

"Try it." he told her. He held up his left hand to her. She kept one of her swords at his neck, but sliced the blade of the other across the palm of his hand and he flinched. She sheathed one of her swords and pulled out her pistol. She aimed it at him, backing away towards Jack as she sheathed her other sword.

"Move and I'll blow your head off." she threatened Barbossa. She looked at Jack who looked distressed. He held up his left hand -- it had a large cut in it. Her heart sunk.

"You see, Mrs. Sparrow?" Barbossa asked, standing up. "It's hopeless." She kept her pistol aimed. "Go ahead -- shoot me. I dare you." He smiled evilly. She released the safety and pulled the trigger.

BANG! The witchdoctor fell to the floor, yelling and clutching his leg. The logs restraining Jack fell to the floor with a thud.

Barbossa laughed. "Clever, clever. But the Simul Stone's effects are permanent. Until one of us dies, that is."

"Jack, there's always a way out -- always a catch…" Celeste told Jack. "_I_ can't do anything, but maybe _you _can."

He nodded and headed towards Barbossa, unsheathing his sword.

Celeste started towards the witchdoctor. He waved his staff at her and her feet flew out from under her; she fell forward on her face. She got up and charged towards him. Again, he waved his staff and she fell to the ground as he backed up. She got an idea. She pulled out a knife and threw it at him with all her strength. It grazed his arm fairly deeply and he dropped his staff. She dove for it and grabbed it, accidentally dropping one of her swords. She got up and ran to the mouth of the cave with it. She quickly dropped it and broke it in half with her foot. The witchdoctor stopped and looked around, panicked. He grabbed Celeste's dropped sword and was ready for battle.

Meanwhile, Jack charged at Barbossa, slashing at him, but he parried it.

"Jack, Jack." Barbossa laughed as they fenced. "Ye can't kill me like this. Bring back more memories? Ye got to kill me with your own hands."

Jack eyed him suspiciously and slashed at his stomach, slicing a long, shallow cut. Jack flinched, not expecting the blow. Barbossa dropped his sword and so did Jack. Barbossa threw a punch at him, but he ducked. Quickly recovering, he swung a right hook at Barbossa. Barbossa staggered from the hit and Jack felt no pain… He was going to have to kill him the old fashioned way.

Celeste and the witchdoctor fenced back and forth across the mouth of the cave. A thought hit Celeste. The herb. She had to find the herb. She slashed overhead and kicked him in the stomach. He fell over backwards and she ran off towards the forest, glancing around frantically. She could hear him coming up behind her and she wheeled around, blocking a strike from him. They fenced again and Celeste attempted to disarm him. Unfortunately, the sword handles got hooked together and the swords flew out of their hands and into some bushes.

Celeste and the witchdoctor glanced around at all the bushes surrounding them; the swords could be anywhere. Celeste kicked him in the leg and he fell over. She looked around frantically for the blue herb. Finally, she spotted it. Growing by a tree trunk about thirty feet away. She dashed for it, but the witchdoctor dove at her and grabbed her legs. She fell over on her stomach, knocking the breath out of her. She kicked at him, finally kicking him in the face. She dashed off again and made it about fifteen feet before he grabbed her arm and flung her to the ground. He pinned her down and punched her in the face -- hard. She winced in lots of pain but knew what to do. She struggled as much as she could and finally kicked him in the groin. She shoved him away as he writhed in pain and she ran toward the herb. She quickly picked it and shoved it in her pocket. Now she needed a weapon.

The witchdoctor charged at her and she tripped on a tree root, falling over backwards. He pinned her to the ground again and punched her in the face once more. She winced but glanced around for a weapon and picked up the nearest thing. She bashed him over the head with a large stone and knocked him out cold. She got up and searched to bushes for her swords. She retrieved them and slew the witchdoctor so he could cause no more problems.

In the meantime, Jack and Barbossa were fighting viciously. Each had taken a fair beating from each other. They threw punches like mad. Celeste hurried up, wanting to do something to help.

"Your witchdoctor is dead, Barbossa!" she yelled. Barbossa looked over at her in astonishment, getting a punch in the face from Jack due to his lack of concentration. "Nice try!"

"Damn it!" Barbossa growled, punching Jack hard in the face. "But I don't need him to carry this out! Just Jack!" He punched Jack again. Jack recovered, staggering from the blow.

"Celeste, get the herb!" Jack yelled, his voice cracking from strain.

"I got it!" she cried.

"Then go back to the ship and use it!" he ordered, ducking a punch. "NOW!" She flinched a little from his harshness, but started to turn slowly back to the ship. "I SAID GO!" She quickly turned and ran back towards the ship.

'I hope Jack is alright…' Celeste thought, running as swiftly as she could. 'Why do I feel guilty for leaving? There was nothing I could do. I couldn't hurt Barbossa without hurting him, after all… And besides, I need to get back to Christopher… That's what's most important.' She rowed back to the Pearl and got aboard. It looked like everyone had left for the ambushing of Barbossa's ship. Everyone but a few crewmembers on deck, Anamaria who promised to stay with Christopher, and Sierra who promised to stay with Jocelyn. She dashed downstairs to Christopher's room and stopped abruptly outside it. She quietly opened the door, just in case Christopher was asleep; she didn't want to wake him. Lo and behold, Christopher _was _asleep -- Anamaria was sitting in a chair next to his bed, sleeping as well. Celeste tapped her on the shoulder and her eyes shot open.

"Oh, Celeste -- sorry… I just… dozed off for a moment." Anamaria whispered.

"That's fine -- look, I found the herb." Celeste replied, pulling the blue herb out of her pocket. She handed it to Anamaria.

"Great! Alright, I'll ground it up and get a few things from the galley." Anamaria said. "Wake him up so he knows what's going on. I'm also going to need him awake to know if it's working right."

"Alright." Celeste agreed and Anamaria left the room. Celeste sat down on the edge of Christopher's bed.

'Oh, he looks so peaceful… I hate to disturb him…' she thought and sighed. 'I suppose I have to…'

"Christopher." she said, taking his hand. He blinked his eyes open and looked up at her.

"Hi, Mummy." he greeted weakly.

"Hey, sweetheart." she replied with a smile.

"Where's Daddy?" he asked.

"Erm… Daddy is… he's still out fighting with Barbossa." she told him.

"Is he alright?" he asked worriedly.

"Of course he is. He's Daddy." she told him, smiling. "He's always alright." Christopher nodded. "Er, I found the plant that will make you feel better. Anamaria is fixing it right now."

"Okay." Christopher said.

"So how are you feeling, darling? Alright?" Celeste asked.

"Mm mm, Mummy…" he replied sickly, shaking his head. "I feel bad… and my head is hot…"

"Oh, baby, I'm sorry." she told him, taking a cloth from his bedside table and dipping it in the bowl of water. She wrung it out and dabbed his head with it. "You'll be fine soon."

A little while later, Anamaria entered the room, carrying all her supplies.

"Alright," Anamaria said, setting her things on the bedside table, "you'll be better in no time, Christopher." She looked at Celeste. "Celeste, I think you should leave."

"What? Why?" Celeste asked.

"Because you need to go and get Jack." Anamaria told her. "Besides, he'll probably have taken quite a beating from Barbossa, and you'll need to help him with that."

She considered this for a moment. She wanted to stay with her child, but… after all, Anamaria knew what she was doing… and she did need to get Jack herself. "Well…" she sighed and looked at Christopher. "Sweetheart, I'm going to go get Daddy, alright? I'll be back later." He nodded and she kissed his head. "Thanks, Anamaria."

"Of course." Anamaria replied, and Celeste left the room.

She went up on deck and stood at the railing, looking out at the island. She saw nothing. No movement whatsoever. She bit her lip in worry and climbed down to the boat. She rowed ashore and got out of the boat. She stood in her own awkward silence, wondering what to do. She couldn't be of any help to Jack if she went to help him. Besides, she could miss him on the way. She finally decided to just wait there. She sat down uneasily on the sand and waited impatiently. Finally, she saw a bush move.

'Oh, please don't be an animal or something -- please be Jack.' she thought, having been fooled by animal movement several times while she waited. 'Don't let it be Barbossa… Oh, God, if Barbossa killed him… Please let Jack be alright… I don't want our children to grow up without their Daddy…'

She looked closely at the bushes. Barbossa's large blue hat was visible through the brush… She squinted, praying she saw something else, but it was no mirage. She stood up and started backing towards the boat, tears welling in her eyes.

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STAR WARS THIS WEEK! Yahooie! I unfortunately don't get to see it opening day... but I shall see it friday! WOOT! And I bought an Anakin shirt from Hot Topic for the occasion! Ewok! Watching Return of the Jedi here. You know, many people who have seen Revenge of the Sith say its better than Return of the Jedi! Too many "R... of the..." titles. Confusing. Anyway, YOU MUST ALL SEE IT! Huzzah! I know I shall see it and mucho enjoy it! Yay! "HE will come to ME?" -Darth Vader. I love that quote. He says it funny. Anyway, bleh to Palpatine! I smack him!

PLEASE REVIEW!


	7. Chapter 7: Because We're Sparrows

FINAL CHAPTER! THANKS TO ALL WHO REVIEWED! I LOVE YOU DEARLY!

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Chapter 7: Because We're Sparrows

Celeste backed away from the sight of Barbossa's hat through the bushes. Tears dripped down her cheeks. When suddenly…

Jack staggered out from the brush tiredly, flung Barbossa's hat to the ground, and stomped on it in triumph and resentment. She ran to him.

"Jack!" she exclaimed, sniffling, placing a hand on his arm. "Are you alright? Is Barbossa dead? How did you kill him?"

"Tha's a lot o' questions, darling…" he said, rubbing his head.

"Oh, I'm sorry." she apologized, wiping the tears from her eyes. "First things first. _Are_ you alright?"

"Nothin's broken." he replied. "I don' know why, but nothin's broken."

"Ohh, you look hurt…" she told him worriedly. His lip was bleeding and he already had bruises forming on his face and neck. "Come on, let's get back to the ship. We'll fix you up there." She took his hand.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed, jerking his hand back.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she cried.

"Think I sprained my wrist back there…" he told her. She took his other hand and they walked back to the boat. "So what about Barbossa?"

"Aye, 'e's dead." he replied as they got into the boat. "Took long enough to kill 'im."

"How did you do it?" she asked as she rowed them back to the ship with a bit of difficulty since she was rowing more than just herself.

He sighed tiredly. "Basically, I 'ad to beat 'im senseless until 'e couldn' put up as much o' a fight. Then I 'ad to some'ow pin 'im to the ground and strangle 'im to death. Which I did."

"Are you sure he's dead?" she asked concernedly.

"Aye, I'm sure. Made sure." he replied. Celeste sighed in relief.

They made it back to the ship and went to their room. Sierra was sitting in a chair next to Jocelyn's crib.

"Hi, Sierra." Celeste greeted. Sierra looked up.

"Oh, you're back so soon?" Sierra asked. "The crew isn't even back yet -- I figured you would take longer than they would."

"Well, we're back." Celeste told her. "Thanks for watching Jocelyn for us."

"Oh, sure, anytime." Sierra replied, standing up. "Well, I'll get going, then. I'll see if Anamaria needs any help." Celeste nodded and Sierra left the room.

"Ouch…" Celeste said, looking at Jack's bleeding lip. "You lie down and I'll get some bandages and things." He nodded and turned to lie down, but she placed a hand on his arm and hugged him.

She went down to the cargo hold and retrieved all the supplies she would need. She went back upstairs and stopped at Christopher's door. She wanted to go in, but Jack needed her… She continued to her room and went inside, shutting the door behind her. She sat down next to him on the bed and laid out the bandages and things.

"Oh!" Jack exclaimed, remembering something. "Love, 'ow's Christopher? Did you give the herb to Anamaria?"

"Yes, I did." she replied. "But I couldn't stay around to see what happened -- I had to row back ashore to get you." He sighed. "Anyway, Anamaria knows what she's doing. Just relax." She took a cloth and wiped the blood from his lip.

"…Can't you just go check on 'im?" Jack asked abruptly.

"I don't want to leave you here bleeding -- I'll check in a few minutes." she told him. She picked up one of his hands; his knuckles were bleeding. She cleaned his knuckles off and kissed the palm of his hand. "So tell me about Barbossa, sweetheart. How exactly did you kill him?"

"Well, after you left, Barbossa put up a pretty good fight." Jack told her. "But o' course, he couldn' beat Captain Jack Sparrow."

"Jack, the truth." she said, smiling. "What happened?"

"Well… Barbossa an' I were fightin' like mad." he explained. "We each took some good hits and were both at the end of our strings when the fight finished. 'e nearly got me but I… I thought about you an'… Christopher an' Jocelyn an' knew I couldn' lose." She smiled. "So I gathered up all my strength and punched 'im in the face as 'ard as I could. Tha's 'ow I sprained my wrist. The force of it knocked 'im over an' I seized the opportunity. …I strangled 'im to death."

"Good." she said. "Good." She took his right hand and started to bandage it. He winced a little at the pain from his sprained wrist. "I'm so proud of you. But then again, when am I not?" She finished bandaging his wrist just as Anamaria came in. Jack's head shot up.

"'ow's Christopher!" he exclaimed.

Celeste laid his head back down. "Don't do that -- you're not strong yet." She looked up at Anamaria. "How _is_ Christopher?"

"He's doing just fine." she told them. "The fever should start going down tomorrow." They sighed in relief. They thanked her and she left the room.

Celeste suddenly noticed something. "Oh! Jack, the X! It's gone!"

"Oh… must've gone away when Barbossa died." Jack said. "Thank goodness."

"Yes, thank goodness." Celeste concurred.

A little while later, the crew returned to the ship and Lenmark went to Jack and Celeste's room to speak with them. He knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Celeste called, and he entered, shutting the door behind him. Jack was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, and Celeste was sitting beside him, holding Jocelyn in her arms. "Oh, Mr. Lenmark. Good day."

"Good day." he greeted. "I was disappointed when I heard you'd left without me."

"I'm sorry about that." Celeste apologized. "But you just would've been in danger. Barbossa had used some sort of spell to make it so no one could hurt him except Jack. It's a long story and we'll explain at dinner tonight. How did you and the crew fare?"

"Well. We defeated all of Barbossa's crew." Lenmark replied.

"Good." she said, pleased.

"We searched their ship and found quite a lot of treasure." he told her.

"Oh?" she asked, taking Jocelyn's hand.

"Yes." replied. "I… think it's best if that treasure goes to the Port Royal government." At this, Jack opened his eyes and looked over at Lenmark. "We have suffered a lot of losses due to Barbossa and this treasure should cover the damages."

"_My_ crew an' _my_ wife an' _I_ earned that treasure." Jack stated. "If not for us, Barbossa would be takin' over the Caribbean righ' now an' there would be no Port Royal at all."

"The government needs--"

"The government taxes the people enough -- if they get this, tha's where it should go, but it won', will it?" Jack said.

"Mr. Sparrow, try to understand--"

"Commodore Valentine won' go in on this." Jack told him. "You're jus' bein' selfish."

"I think _you're _being selfish, Mr. Sparrow." Lenmark added. "You've got treasure, what do you need this for? Stop being greedy."

"I grew up starvin' -- do you know what tha's like?" he asked. "Do you know what it's like to be treated badly jus' because you don' 'ave money?"

"No, I don't, but--"

"My children are goin' to 'ave every advantage I never 'ad an' they deserve." Jack stated staunchly. "An' my crew: my friends. They grew up no more fortunate than I did. We deserved better, Mr. Lenmark. And we still deserve better. The treasure is ours." Lenmark sighed and left the room.

"You overreacted a little, don't you think?" Celeste asked, as Jocelyn rediscovered the amusement of Celeste's necklace.

"I don' think so." he said. "Jus' tellin' it like it is. The government's got enough money -- they're not gettin' mine."

"I have to agree." Celeste told him. "They keep raising the taxes on everyone and not everyone can afford it… They have to stop doing that. They need to give money back to the people…"

"Bunch o' stupid blighters." Jack muttered.

"Don't worry yourself over it." she said and kissed his cheek. "There's nothing we can do."

They sailed back to Port Royal and it turned out that Commodore Valentine agreed with Jack. It was their treasure -- he considered it as a reward. Christopher's fever disappeared and everything was back to normal. One day, Celeste and Jack, along with their children, were in town, on their way to visit Will and Elizabeth and ran into someone who apparently knew Jack from somewhere.

"You probably don't remember me -- Marcus Vaughn?" the man said.

"Er… sorry…" Jack replied.

"I didn't think so." Vaughn told him. "I was a friend of your father. How is he doing?"

"Er… I… 'aven' seen my father since I was very young…" Jack replied, a little confused on why this man would be asking about his dead father.

"Oh, I'm… sorry to have bothered you, then. Good day." Vaughn bid and walked off.

"How odd." Celeste said. "Why would he be asking about your father?"

"I don' know…" Jack replied, as they went on their way.

They finally arrived at Will and Elizabeth's and told them about their journey.

"Adventure really flocks to you, Jack." Will said with a smile.

"So does trouble." Celeste added, smiling as well. They laughed.

"Do you have another adventure in line yet?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, but… you can be sure there will be more." Jack replied. "Definitely. Bring on whatever adventure can throw at us. We'll be ready. We're always lookin' for adventure -- we can't stay away from it. Addicted to adventure simply… because we're Sparrows." He lifted up his glass. "To adventure."

"Cheers!"

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Okay, I am ready to admit that the ending of this one (the very end ending) isn't SO great... at all... but it was the best I could come up with. MONTHS of labor here. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it! I'm working on #6 right now! Yay! Jack and Celeste will never be gone! Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews my fics -- you keep me alive! May the force be with you! (still watching Star Wars)

PLEASE REVIEW!


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